ad ‧ mit S2 W1 /ədˈmɪt/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle admitted , present participle admitting )
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Latin ; Origin: admittere , from ad- 'to' + mittere 'to send' ]
1 . ACCEPT TRUTH [intransitive and transitive] to agree unwillingly that something is true or that someone else is right:
‘Okay, so maybe I was a little bit scared,’ Jenny admitted.
admit (that)
You may not like her, but you have to admit that she’s good at her job.
admit to somebody (that)
Paul admitted to me that he sometimes feels jealous of my friendship with Stanley.
I must admit, I didn’t actually do anything to help her.
Admit it! I’m right, aren’t I?
admit (to) doing something
Dana admitted feeling hurt by what I had said.
freely/openly/frankly etc admit (=admit without being ashamed)
Phillips openly admits to having an alcohol problem.
2 . ACCEPT BLAME [intransitive and transitive] to say that you have done something wrong, especially something criminal SYN confess OPP deny
admit doing something
Greene admitted causing death by reckless driving.
admit to (doing) something
A quarter of all workers admit to taking time off when they are not ill.
After questioning, he admitted to the murder.
No organization has admitted responsibility for the bombing.
3 . ALLOW TO ENTER [transitive] to allow someone to enter a public place to watch a game, performance etc ⇨ admittance , admission
admit somebody to/into something
Only ticket-holders will be admitted into the stadium.
REGISTER
In everyday English, people usually say let someone in rather than admit someone:
▪
They won’t let you in without a ticket.
4 . ALLOW TO JOIN [transitive] to allow someone to join an organization, club etc
admit somebody to/into something
Drake was admitted into the club in 1997.
5 . HOSPITAL [transitive] if people at a hospital admit someone, that person is taken in to be given treatment, tests, or care:
What time was she admitted?
be admitted to hospital British English , be admitted to the hospital American English
6 . admit defeat to stop trying to do something because you realize you cannot succeed:
For Haskill, selling the restaurant would be admitting defeat.
7 . admit evidence to allow a particular piece of ↑ evidence to be used in a court of law:
Courts can refuse to admit evidence obtained illegally by police.
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COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ refuse to admit something
He refused to admit that it was his fault.
▪ be forced to admit something
The government was forced to admit that the policy had never really worked.
▪ somebody has to admit something
In the end, he had to admit I was right.
■ adverbs
▪ freely/readily/openly admit something (=admit without being ashamed)
I freely admit I’m hopeless at maths.
▪ grudgingly/reluctantly admit something (=admit something when you do not want to)
He grudgingly admitted that I was a better swimmer than him.
■ phrases
▪ be willing/prepared/happy/ready to admit something
She was willing to admit that she’d made a mistake.
▪ be ashamed/loath to admit something
He was ashamed to admit that he had lied to her.
▪ I must admit something (=used when saying that you admit that something is true)
I must admit I hate camping.
▪ I hate to admit it but …
I hate to admit it but it looks like we’ve failed.
▪ be the first to admit something
I know I’m lazy – I’m the first to admit it!
▪ I don’t mind admitting something
I’m scared and I don’t mind admitting it.
• • •
THESAURUS
■ admit something is true
▪ admit to agree unwillingly that something is true:
He admitted that the company was having financial difficulties.
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I must admit I was disappointed by their reaction.
▪ concede formal to admit something in a discussion or argument:
‘You may be right,’ Bridget conceded.
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It was a decision which he now concedes was incorrect.
▪ acknowledge /əkˈnɒlɪdʒ/ formal to say that something is true or that a situation exists:
The report acknowledges that research on animals is not always a reliable guide when it comes to humans.
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They do not want to acknowledge the fact that things have changed.
▪ confess to admit something that you feel embarrassed or ashamed about:
Bradley confessed that he struggled to finish the race.
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I must confess I don’t like his wife at all.
▪ Granted/I grant you formal spoken used when admitting that something is true, although you do not think it makes much difference to the main point. Granted is usually used at the beginning of a sentence, or on its own:
She has a lot of experience, I grant you, but she’s not good at managing people.
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Granted he did play well in the last game, but generally his form hasn't had been very good recently.
■ admit you have done something wrong
▪ admit to say that you have done something wrong, especially something criminal:
He admitted charges of theft and false accounting.
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Bennett admitted killing his wife.
▪ confess to tell the police or someone in authority that you have done something bad, especially when they have persuaded you to do this:
He finally confessed that he had stolen the money.
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They told him that if he confessed he would get a lighter sentence.
▪ own up to admit that you have done something wrong, usually something that is not very serious. Own up is more informal than admit or confess :
He owned up to the mistake straight away.
▪ fess up informal to admit that you have done something wrong that is not very serious:
Come on, fess up! Where were you last night?
▪ come clean informal to finally admit something bad that you have been trying to hide:
They want the government to come clean on where all the money has gone.
admit of something phrasal verb formal
if a situation admits of a particular explanation, that explanation can be accepted as possible:
The facts admit of no other explanation.