Definition, synonyms and related words
simple past tense and past participle of achieve
"She achieved her goal by running a marathon in under three hours."
In plain English: To achieve something means to successfully reach a goal or finish what you set out to do.
"She achieved her goal of running a marathon within six months."
Usage: Use "achieved" to describe successfully reaching a goal or completing a difficult task in the past. It functions as both the simple past tense and the past participle when paired with auxiliary verbs like "have."
Having been reached, attained or accomplished.
"After years of hard work and dedication, she finally achieved her dream of becoming a professional photographer."
In plain English: Achieved means something you have successfully done or reached after working hard for it.
"The achieved result was much better than we expected."
Usage: The word "achieved" is a verb form and cannot function as an adjective to describe nouns; instead, use the adjective "achieved" only in specific compound phrases like "achieved status." For most contexts where you need an adjective meaning successful or accomplished, simply use "successful," "accomplished," or "attained."
Derived from Old French achever (to finish), which comes from Latin ad- (to) and capere (to take). The original meaning was to bring something to completion or attainment.