acceptable

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əkˈsɛp.tə.bəl/, /ækˈsɛp.tə.bəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French acceptable (“pleasant, agreeable”) and directly acceptābilis (“worthy of acceptance”),^[2][3][4] from acceptāre (“to take or receive willingly”) (see accept).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pleasing, welcome, worthy of being gladly received: about 1386 in the OED,^[6] the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The core idea, according to Etymonline, is of being sure of a welcome.^[2] From pleasing it weakened to merely satisfactory or adequate, and to tolerable.^[7][8] The catchphrase the acceptable face of something, its presentable side, is from 1981.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – pleasing, welcome.^[6]
• 1981 – the acceptable face of.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Good enough to satisfy a need or standard; satisfactory or adequate.
2. Worthy of being accepted; pleasing or welcome.
3. Tolerable or allowed: an acceptable risk.

Word family

• acceptability
• acceptably
• acceptableness

Related words

• accept
• acceptance
• unacceptable
• capable

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins