Is "acquirement" a word?

Question

It's in the dictionary but it sounds awkward to me. The sentence is:

"Professional development is defined as the acquirement of skills required for maintaining a specific career path."

What's a better way I could word this sentence?

Answer 1

The word may just sound awkward to you because you aren't used to it. You could replace it with "acquisition" if it you think it sounds better, but the sentence doesn't need reconstructing.

Answer 2

Technically it's a usable form, but "aquisition" would be less clumsy.