Acquired means gained over time rather than there from the start. Something you got, not something you were born with.
The commonest use by far is in acquired taste, which describes something people dislike at first and come to enjoy after several tries — olives, whisky, blue cheese. Calling something an acquired taste is also a polite way of saying most people hate it. Medicine uses the word precisely, since an acquired condition develops during life while a congenital one is present at birth. Business uses acquired for a company that has been bought.
Practised in A Man Called Ove, Smell & Taste
First appears in chapter 27 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word