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Goal vs Obtain - What's the difference?

goal | obtain |

As a noun goal

is a result that one is attempting to achieve.

As a verb obtain is

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

goal

English

(wikipedia goal)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A result that one is attempting to achieve.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-11-02, volume=409, issue=8860, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= A shrinking slice , passage=The goal should be to strengthen workers without hamstringing firms. Growth, rather than employment protection, is the priority. More work means a stronger labour market, which would bid up employees’ slice, as it did in America in the 1990s when unemployment was at record lows.}}
  • In many sports, an area into which the players attempt to put an object.
  • The act of placing the object into the goal.
  • A point scored in a game as a result of placing the object into the goal.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=April 15, author=Saj Chowdhury, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Norwich 2-1 Nott'm Forest , passage=The former Forest man, who passed a late fitness test, appeared to use Guy Moussi for leverage before nodding in David Fox's free-kick at the far post - his 22nd goal of the season.}}
  • A noun or noun phrase that receives the action of a verb. The subject of a passive verb or the direct object of an active verb. Also called a patient, target, or undergoer.
  • Synonyms

    * (a result one is attempting to achieve: ) ambition, object of desire, objective, purpose, aspiration * See also

    Derived terms

    (goal) * goalball * goal difference * goalie * goalkeeper * goalgetter * goalpost * goaltender * goal umpire * golden goal * silver goal * subgoal

    Anagrams

    * ----

    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,