ikˈsept, ak- also ək- or ek- verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English accepten, from Middle French accepter, from Latin acceptare, freq. of accipere to take, receive, accept, perceive, explain, undertake, from ad- + -cipere (from capere to take) — more at heave
transitive verb
1. obsolete : to treat with partiality or favoritism
God accepteth no man's person — Gal 2:6 (Authorized Version)
2.
a. : to receive with consent (something given or offered)
accepted the medal
: assent to the receipt of
accepted lower wages than the native workers
b. : to be able to take or hold or be designed to take or hold (something applied, affixed, or impressed)
a glazed surface that will not accept ink
3. : to give admittance to (as into one's company or into a particular group)
the town's best families accepted her
: give approval to
those people will never accept abstract sculpture
4.
a. : to take without protest : endure or tolerate with patience
queueing is one aspect of English life he will never wholly accept — London Calling
b. : to regard as proper, suitable, or normal
it came to be accepted that there should be universal education
: acknowledge or recognize as appropriate, permissible, or inevitable : agree to
refused to accept the dangerous working conditions — P.E.James
c. : to regard and hold as true : believe in
by accepting the proposition that all men are created equal
d. : to receive into the mind : understand
words mean … what we accept them as meaning — J.L.Lowes
5.
a. : to make an affirmative or favorable response to (as an invitation or offer)
accepting an invitation to speak
: undertake the responsibility of (as a task or employment)
if he accepts a junior partnership in the firm
b. : to allow (a train) onto the particular section of a line under local control — used of a block operator in the manual block-signal system
6. : to assume orally, in writing, or by conduct an obligation to pay
accepting a bill of exchange
7. of a deliberative body : to receive (a report) officially (as from a committee)
8. : to be sexually responsive to ; especially : to allow to mount and copulate — usually used of a female domestic mammal
intransitive verb
: to receive favorably something offered — usually used with of
no person … shall … accept of any present — U.S. Constitution
Synonyms: see receive
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- accept service