Borrow vs Obtain - What's the difference?

borrow | obtain | Synonyms |

Borrow is a synonym of obtain.

As a proper noun borrow

is .

As a verb obtain is

to get hold of; to gain possession of, to procure; to acquire, in any way.

borrow

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) borwen, .

Alternative forms

* boro (Jamaican English)

Verb

(en verb)

To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=71, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= End of the peer show , passage=Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.}}

To adopt (an idea) as one's own.

to borrow the style, manner, or opinions of another

* Macaulay

rites borrowed from the ancients

* Milton

It is not hard for any man, who hath a Bible in his hands, to borrow good words and holy sayings in abundance; but to make them his own is a work of grace only from above.

(linguistics) To adopt a word from another language.

(arithmetic) In a subtraction, to deduct (one) from a digit of the minuend and add ten to the following digit, in order that the subtraction of a larger digit in the subtrahend from the digit in the minuend to which ten is added gives a positive result.

(proscribed) To lend.

* {{quote-book, year=1951, year_published=1998, publisher=University of Wisconsin Press

, editor=James P. Leary, author=The Grenadiers, section=Milwaukee Talk, isbn=9780299160340, page=56 , title= Wisconsin Folklore , passage=“Rosie, borrow me your look looker, I bet my lips are all. Everytime I eat or drink, so quick I gotta fix ’em, yet.”}}

* {{quote-book, year=2005, publisher=Trafford Publishing, author=Gladys Blyth

, title= Summer at the Cannery , isbn=9781412025362, page=83 , passage=“Ryan, borrow me your lunch pail so we can fill it with blueberries. Susie can make us a pie.”}}

* {{quote-book, year=2006, publisher=Andres Rueda, author=Andrés Rueda, section=Chapter 13

, title= The Clawback , isbn=9781419647680, page=131 , passage=Georgi reached for his empty pockets. “Can you borrow me your telephone?”}}

* {{quote-book, year=2007, publisher=Lulu.com, author=Silvia Cecchini

, title= Bach Flowers Fairytales , isbn=9781847533203, page=7 , passage=“Gaia, could you borrow me your pencils ,(SIC) today, if you do not use them?”}}

To temporarily obtain (something) for (someone).

To feign or counterfeit.

* Spenser

borrowed hair

* Shakespeare

the borrowed majesty of England

Synonyms

* (adopt) adopt, use

Antonyms

* (receive temporarily) give back (exchanging the transfer of ownership), lend (exchanging the owners), return (exchanging the transfer of ownership) * (in arithmetic) carry (the equivalent reverse procedure in the inverse operation of addition)

Derived terms

* borrowed time * borrower

Noun

(en noun)

(golf) Deviation of the path of a rolling ball from a straight line; slope; slant.

This putt has a big left-to right borrow on it.

Etymology 2

From (etyl) borg, from (etyl) (related to Etymology 1, above).

Noun

(en noun)

(archaic) A ransom; a pledge or guarantee.

(archaic) A surety; someone standing bail.

* 1819 , Walter Scott, Ivanhoe :

”where am I to find such a sum? If I sell the very pyx and candlesticks on the altar at Jorvaulx, I shall scarce raise the half; and it will be necessary for that purpose that I go to Jorvaulx myself; ye may retain as borrows my two priests.”

1000 English basic words

obtain

English

Verb

(en verb)

To get hold of; to gain possession of, to procure; to acquire, in any way.

* 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Luke XVIII:

And a certayne ruler axed him: sayinge: Goode Master: what ought I to do, to obtaine eternall lyfe?

* 1814 , (Jane Austen), (Mansfield Park) :

Julia was quite as eager for novelty and pleasure as Maria, though she might not have struggled through so much to obtain them, and could better bear a subordinate situation.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)

, volume=189, issue=2, page=48, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained .}}

(obsolete) To secure (that) a specific objective or state of affairs be reached.

* 1722 , (Daniel Defoe), (Colonel Jack) :

he was condemned to die for the felony, and being so well known for an old offender, had certainly died, but the merchant, upon his earnest application, had obtained that he should be transported, on condition that he restored all the rest of his bills, which he had done accordingly.

(obsolete) To prevail, be victorious; to succeed.

* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , III.2:

“O daughter deare!” (said she) “despeire no whit; / For never sore but might a salve obtain [...].”

* 1701 , (Jonathan Swift), Contests and Dissentions in Athens and Rome :

This, though it failed at present, yet afterward obtained , and was a mighty step to the ruin of the commonwealth.

(obsolete) To hold; to keep, possess or occupy.

* 1671 , (John Milton), (Paradise Regained) , Book I:

His mother then is mortal, but his Sire / He who obtains the monarchy of Heav'n, / And what will he not do to advance his Son?

To exist or be the case; to hold true, be in force.

* 1908 , (Jack London), (The Iron Heel) , ,

Even though the Pervaise confession had never come to light, no reasonable doubt could obtain ; for the act in question was on a par with countless other acts committed by the oligarchs, and, before them, by the capitalists.

* 1992 , (Neal Stephenson), (Snow Crash) , Bantam Spectra, p. 460,

But the hostage situation no longer obtains , and so Uncle Enzo feels it important to stop Rife now,