Other forms: obtained, obtaining, obtains
To obtain is a formal word for getting something, usually with some effort. Obtain permission, obtain a licence, difficult to obtain.
It belongs to official writing and instructions — obtain a copy from the office. Get is the ordinary word and is not less correct. There is a second, rarer sense meaning to be in force: the rules that obtain in this jurisdiction, where obtain has no object at all. That use is legal and academic and catches people out. Note obtainable and unobtainable.
1verbobtainTo get something, often with effort.
“You must obtain a visa before you travel to the country.”
synonyms: acquire, get
2verbforceTo be in force, of a rule or condition.
“Different rules obtain on the other side of the river.”
obtain is a getting.
Also accepted in games: acquire
Latin obtinere means to hold onto or gain — ob-, towards, plus tenere, to hold. Tenere gives tenant, tenacious, contain and retain, so obtaining something is taking hold of it.
Proto-Indo-European
*ten-
Latin
obtinēre — to gain, achieve, succeed, possess
Middle French
obtenir
Anglo-Norman
obtenir
Middle English
obteinen
English, today
obtain
Built from
From Middle English obteinen, from Anglo-Norman obtenir, optiner et al., and Middle French obtenir, from Latin obtinēre (“to gain, achieve, succeed, possess”), from ob- + tenere (“to hold”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Sharper Verbs