In the fourth case, the word acquires, through association, some of the same causal efficacy as the object.

Each word of conversation with her acquired a special meaning.

And some perfectly innocuous-sounding words have acquired a bad reputation unfairly.

T4S's voice was still House's, but unlike House, its words had acquired color and varying pitch.

The word acquired the sense of 'elevated rolling grassland' around the fourteenth century.

The most ordinary word, when put into place, suddenly acquires brilliance.

At that time the word "great" simply meant big, and had not acquired its modern connotations of excellence.

But the word has acquired a pejorative, negative connotation.

With the advent of literature, words acquired new meanings as well as usage.

Today the word has acquired additional meanings, particularly in the railroad industry.