Word.ws English Dictionary

acquis

Syllables: ac·quis/aˈkiː/US/ɑˈki/

acquis noun: the accumulated legislation, legal acts, and court decisions which constitute the total body of European Union law.

acquis: the accumulated legislation, legal acts, and court decisions which constitute the total body of...
Image: Mehr Demokratie, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

acquis (uncountable)

  1. The accumulated legislation, legal acts, and court decisions which constitute the total body of European Union law.
    • Despite the clarity with which this principle has been reiterated, most applicants believe that their own circumstances are unique and deserve an equality of respect, even when this might challenge a principle of at least part of the acquis. The UK, for example, believed that its wider trading...1997, Christopher Preston, “Conclusion: Can the Classical Method Survive?”, in Enlargement and Integration in the European Union, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 228
    • [T]he process of absorption of the EU Internal Market acquis by the new EU member states (Hungary and Estonia, e.g. completed their alignment wih the Internal Market acquis within three years) is not feasible for the Moldovan economy, at least in the following three to five years.2006 March, Oxana Gutu, “Conclusions and Recommendations”, in Moldova’s Convergence with the Acquis: A Pro-growth and Pro-integration Strategy (CEPS Working Document; no. 238), Brussels: Centre for...
  2. (international law) The accumulated legislation and decisions of any international community.
    • Acquis is a French term meaning "that which has been agreed". In the context of the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement (TFTA) means that the negotiations should start from the point at which […] the COMESA, EAC and SADC trade negotiations have reached. Tariff negotiations and the exchange of tariff...2016, Gerhard Erasmus, Trudi Hartzenberg, Paul Kalenga, “Patterns of African Regional Integration: The Tripartite and Continental Free Trade Areas”, in Achim Gutowski et al., editors, Africa’s...

Examples of acquis in a sentence

  • The realisation that such consideration would not be forthcoming was particularly humiliating, given that the UK had been invited to participate in forming the acquis in 1955–57.1997, Christopher Preston, “Conclusion: Can the Classical Method Survive?”, in Enlargement and Integration in the European Union, London...
  • In general, the existing acquis communautaire was adhered to as closely as possible in the drafting of the PEICL [Principles of European Insurance Contract Law].2018, Helmut Heiss, Ulrike Mönnich, “Pre-contractual Duties in European Insurance Contract Law”, in Yong Qiang Han, Greg Pynt, editors...
  • It is a remarkable story of how the EU has managed to create an entire acquis that ensures that the whole of Europe speaks about consumer contract using the same terminology and policy framework.2018, Geriant Howells, Mateja Durovic, “The Rise of EU Consumer Law between Common Law and Civil Law Traditions”, in Francisco de Elizade...
  • Acquis is a French term meaning "that which has been agreed".2016, Gerhard Erasmus, Trudi Hartzenberg, Paul Kalenga, “Patterns of African Regional Integration: The Tripartite and Continental Free...

Synonyms of acquis

Origin of acquis

Shortened from acquis communautaire: French acquis (“that has been acquired or obtained”) + communautaire (“of the community”).

Phrases with acquis

Words that rhyme with acquis

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about acquis

What does acquis mean?
Acquis means the accumulated legislation, legal acts, and court decisions which constitute the total body of European Union law.
How do you use acquis in a sentence?
The realisation that such consideration would not be forthcoming was particularly humiliating, given that the UK had been invited to participate in forming the acquis in 1955–57.
What part of speech is acquis?
Acquis is a noun.
How do you pronounce acquis?
Acquis is pronounced /aˈkiː/ (UK).

Words near acquis in the dictionary

  1. acquiries
  2. acquiring
  3. acquiring financial institution
  4. acquiring financial institutions
  5. acquiry
  6. acquis
  7. acquis communautaire
  8. acquisible
  9. acquisite
  10. acquisition
  11. acquisition debt

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: acquis (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-acquis.wav.

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