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Achieve vs Cope - What's the difference?

achieve | cope |

In intransitive terms the difference between achieve and cope

is that achieve is to succeed in something, now especially in academic performance while cope is to form a cope or arch; to bend or arch; to bow.

In transitive terms the difference between achieve and cope

is that achieve is to obtain, or gain (a desired result, objective etc.), as the result of exertion; to succeed in gaining; to win while cope is to cover (a joint or structure) with coping.

As a noun cope is

a long, loose cloak worn by a priest or bishop on ceremonial occasions.

achieve

English

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete )

Verb

(achiev)
  • To succeed in something, now especially in academic performance.
  • To carry out successfully; to accomplish.
  • * I. Taylor
    • Supposing faculties and powers to be the same, far more may be achieved in any line by the aid of a capital, invigorating motive than without it.
  • (obsolete) To conclude, finish, especially successfully.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , III.1:
    • Full many Countreyes they did overronne, / From the uprising to the setting Sunne, / And many hard adventures did atchieve [...].
  • To obtain, or gain (a desired result, objective etc.), as the result of exertion; to succeed in gaining; to win.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2013, date=January 22, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC
    • , title= Aston Villa 2-1 Bradford (3-4) , passage=Bradford may have lost on the night but they stubbornly protected a 3-1 first-leg advantage to emulate a feat last achieved by Rochdale in 1962.}}
  • * (William Shakespeare), (Twelfth Night), II-v
    • Some are born great, some achieve greatness.
  • *
    • Thou hast achieved our liberty.
  • (obsolete) To conclude, to turn out.
  • * Prior
    • Show all the spoils by valiant kings achieved .
  • * (William Shakespeare), (Othello), II-i
    • He hath achieved a maid / That paragons description.

    Synonyms

    * accomplish, effect, fulfil, fulfill, complete, execute, perform, realize, obtain. See accomplish

    Derived terms

    * achievement * achiever

    External links

    * *

    cope

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl)

    Verb

    (cop)
  • To deal effectively with something difficult.
    • I thought I would never be able to cope with life after the amputation, but I have learned how to be happy again.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=May 5 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Chelsea were coping comfortably as Liverpool left Luis Suarez too isolated. Steven Gerrard was also being forced to drop too deep to offer support to the beleaguered Jay Spearing and Jordan Henderson rather than add attacking potency alongside the Uruguayan.}}
  • To cut and form a mitred joint in wood or metal.
  • (falconry) To clip the beak or talons of a bird.
    • Synonyms
    * (to deal effectively with) handle, manage, withstand

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A long, loose cloak worn by a priest or bishop on ceremonial occasions.
  • * Bishop Burnet
    • a hundred and sixty priests all in their copes
  • *1890 , (Oscar Wilde), The Picture of Dorian Gray , ch. XI:
  • *:He possessed a gorgeous cope of crimson silk and gold-thread damask, figured with a repeating pattern of golden pomegranates set in six-petalled formal blossoms, beyond which on either side was the pine-apple device wrought in seed-pearls.
  • Any covering such as a canopy or a mantle.
  • The "vault" or "canopy" of the skies, heavens etc.
  • * Milton
    • the starry cope of heaven
  • *, II.12:
    • Who perceiveth and seeth himselfe placed here,farthest from heavens coape , with those creatures, that are the worst of the three conditions; and yet dareth imaginarily place himselfe above the circle of the Moone, and reduce heaven under his feet.
  • (construction) A covering piece on top of a wall exposed to the weather, usually made of metal, masonry, or stone and sloped to carry off water.
  • (foundry) The top part of a sand casting mold.
    • (Knight)
    (De Colange)
  • An ancient tribute due to the lord of the soil, out of the lead mines in Derbyshire, England.

    • Verb

    (cop)
  • To cover (a joint or structure) with coping.
  • To form a cope or arch; to bend or arch; to bow.
  • * Holland
    • Some bending down and coping to ward the earth.

    Etymology 3

    Verb

    (cop)
  • (obsolete) To bargain for; to buy.
  • (obsolete) To exchange or barter.
    • (Spenser)
  • (obsolete) To make return for; to requite; to repay.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Three thousand ducats due unto the Jew, / We freely cope your courteous pains withal.
  • (obsolete) To match oneself against; to meet; to encounter.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I love to cope him in these sullen fits.
  • * Shakespeare
    • They say he yesterday coped Hector in the battle, and struck him down.
  • * Philips
    • Host coped with host, dire was the battle.
  • (obsolete) To encounter; to meet; to have to do with.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man / As e'er my conversation coped withal.
    (Webster 1913)

    Anagrams

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