accept

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There is little danger of confusion in spoken contexts, since all they have in common is their similar pronunciation in running discourse, but their spelling is open to confusion. David Crystal reports in his book Who Cares About English Usage? (1984) that several of 20 English undergraduates asked to choose between Shall we accept / except his invitation to dinner chose except.

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verb

1. To receive (something given or offered) willingly and gladly: embrace, take (up), welcome. See accept/reject.
2. To admit to one's possession, presence, or awareness: have, receive, take. See accept/reject.
3. To allow admittance, as to a group: admit, receive, take in. See accept/reject.
4. To regard (something) as true or real: believe. Slang buy, swallow. See opinion.
5. To perceive and recognize the meaning of: apprehend, catch (on), compass, comprehend, conceive, fathom, follow, get, grasp, make out, read, see, sense, take, take in, understand. Informal savvy. Slang dig. Chiefly British twig. Scots ken. Idioms: gethavea handle on, get the picture. See understand/misunderstand.
6. To put up with: abide, bear, brook, endure, go, stand (for), stomach, suffer, support, sustain, swallow, take, tolerate, withstand. Informal lump. Idioms: take it, take it lying down. See accept/reject.
7. To respond affirmatively; receive with agreement or compliance: accede, acquiesce, agree, assent, consent, nod, subscribe, yes. See agree/disagree.

v

Definition: allow into group
Antonyms: blackball, decline, deny, reject

v

Definition: believe the goodness, realness of something
Antonyms: disagree, dispute, reject, renounce, repudiate

v

Definition: put up with
Antonyms: demur, disallow, reject

v

Definition: receive by agreeing, consenting
Antonyms: decline, disagree, refuse

v

Definition: receive something given physically
Antonyms: deny, discard, refuse, reject

IN BRIEF: To agree to; to receive something with approval.

We decided to accept her as our friend.

Tutor's tip: To "accept" means to receive or approve, while "except" means to exclude. An "excerpt" is a short part of something written or filmed.

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as in: agree to
sign description: Both open 5-hands, palms down pull back towards the chest as they close and rest on the chest.

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For a list of words related to accept, see:

• Approval, Respect, and Recognition - accept: (vb) approve of, admit to; recognize as true

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See words rhyming with "accept."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Accept.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - acceptere, godtage, tage imod
v. intr. - godtage, modtage

Nederlands (Dutch)
accepteren, aannemen, aanvaarden, geloven (dat), op zich nemen, goedkeuren

Français (French)
v. tr. - accepter, admettre, se résigner à, approuver, prendre livraison de, se charger de, (Comm) accepter (une facture)
v. intr. - se résigner à, se soumettre à

Deutsch (German)
v. - akzeptieren, annehmen, hinnehmen, billigen

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - δέχομαι, αποδέχομαι, συμφωνώ, συγκατατίθεμαι

Italiano (Italian)
accettare, gradire, approvare, assentire

Português (Portuguese)
v. - aceitar, concordar, reconhecer, aprovar

Русский (Russian)
принимать, принять, относиться благосклонно, принимать с покорностью, согласиться, утвердить

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - aceptar, admitir, aprobar, resignar
v. intr. - resignarse, aceptarse, admitirse, aprobarse

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - anta, acceptera

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
领受, 接受, 认可, 同意, 相信, 应允, 承认

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 領受, 接受, 認可, 同意, 相信
v. intr. - 接受, 應允, 承認, 同意

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - 받아들이다, 믿어주다, 뜻을 이해하다, 인수하다
v. intr. - 받아들이다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 受け入れる, 認める, 引き受ける, 快く迎え入れる, 理解する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يقبل, يوافق على‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮קיבל, הסכים‬
v. intr. - ‮קיבל, הסכים, קיבל שטר, נענה ל-‬

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