ac ‧ cept S1 W1 /əkˈsept/ BrE AmE verb
[ Word Family: adjective : ↑ acceptable ≠ ↑ unacceptable , ↑ accepted ; verb : ↑ accept ; noun : ↑ acceptance ; adverb : ↑ acceptably ≠ ↑ unacceptably ]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: French ; Origin: accepter , from Latin acceptare , from accipere 'to receive' , from ad- 'to' + capere 'to take' ]
1 . GIFT/OFFER/INVITATION [intransitive and transitive] to take something that someone offers you, or to agree to do something that someone asks you to do OPP refuse :
Rick accepted her offer of coffee.
He accepted the invitation to stay with us.
His school reports said that he is always ready to accept a challenge (=agree to do something difficult) .
Please accept this small gift.
They offered me a job and I accepted.
accept something from somebody
He accepted a glass of water from Helen.
He readily accepted her invitation (=accepted it quickly) .
REGISTER
In everyday English, when talking about accepting a job, accepting responsibility or blame, or accepting a method of payment, people usually use take :
▪ They offered me the job and I accepted. ➔ They offered me the job and I took it.
When talking about accepting an offer, people often say take someone up on their offer :
▪
He decided to take her up on her offer.
2 . SITUATION/PROBLEM ETC [transitive] to decide that there is nothing you can do to change a difficult and unpleasant situation or fact and continue with your normal life:
He’s not going to change, and you just have to accept it.
accept that
We have to accept that this is not an ideal world.
You need to accept the fact that most of your problems are caused by jealousy.
3 . THINK SOMEBODY/SOMETHING IS GOOD ENOUGH [transitive] to decide that someone has the necessary skill or intelligence for a particular job, course etc or that a piece of work is good enough OPP reject :
Students accepted by Stanford Law School had very high scores on the LSAT.
accept somebody/something as something
They have accepted him as the representative of the company.
accept somebody/something for something
Random House accepted the book for publication.
4 . BECOME PART OF A GROUP [transitive] to allow someone to become part of a group, society, or organization, and to treat them in the same way as the other members OPP reject
accept somebody as something
The children gradually began to accept her as one of the family.
accept somebody into something
It often takes years for immigrants to be accepted into the host community.
5 . AGREE TO TAKE/DEAL WITH SOMETHING [transitive] to agree to take or deal with something that someone gives you, or to say that it is suitable or good enough:
The government has accepted the resignation of a senior army commander.
Please accept my sincere apologies.
Sorry, we don’t accept traveller’s cheques.
6 . SUGGESTION/ADVICE [transitive] to decide to do what someone suggests or advises you should do:
Be prepared to accept the advice of members of staff.
7 . BELIEVE AN EXPLANATION/STATEMENT [transitive] to agree that what someone says is right or true OPP reject :
She has accepted your explanation as to why you didn’t attend the meeting.
8 . accept responsibility/blame for something to admit that you were responsible for something bad that happened:
The University will not accept responsibility for items lost or stolen.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ nouns
▪ accept an offer
In the end I had to accept his offer of £4,500.
▪ accept an invitation
Are you going to accept their invitation to the wedding?
▪ accept help
Don’t be afraid to accept help if you need it.
▪ accept aid
Egypt gratefully accepted American economic aid.
▪ accept assistance
They were ready to accept French military assistance.
▪ accept a challenge
To protect the environment we must accept some difficult challenges.
▪ accept an award
Miller accepted the award for best comedy show.
▪ accept an opportunity
I wish that I’d accepted the opportunity to retire when it was offered.
▪ accept a gift/present
Accepting presents from him made her feel uncomfortable.
▪ accept a job
She was desperate for money so she accepted the job.
▪ accept a lift British English , accept a ride American English
I had been taught not to accept lifts from strangers.
▪ accept a bribe
The president’s family and friends accepted massive bribes in exchange for official favours.
■ adverbs
▪ gladly/willingly/readily accept
She invited him for a drink and he gladly accepted.
▪ gratefully accept
He gratefully accepted Athena’s help.
▪ graciously accept
She accepted her gift graciously.