acceptance

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əkˈsɛp.təns/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French acceptance (Anglo-French), from accepter (“to accept”) (see accept) and -ance.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of accepting, or the fact of being accepted: the 1570s in Etymonline, 1596 in the OED;^[2][5] MWU dates it to about 1530.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The earlier word was acception (late 14th century), common until about 1700, and acceptation was used from the early 15th century.^[2] Favourable reception or approval of persons and things is from the late 16th century,^[5] and the sense in which a word is accepted from the early 18th century.^[5] In commerce, an agreement to pay a bill of exchange is a technical sense,^[6][7] and in psychology, coming to terms with a situation is a modern use.^[6][7]

Timeline

• c. 1530 – first use (MWU).^[3]
• 1596 – the act of accepting.^[5]
• 1649 – the state of being accepted.^[5]
• before 1716 – the sense of a word.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of agreeing to receive or undertake something offered.
2. The fact of being received as adequate or suitable, or of being admitted into a group.
3. Agreement with or belief in an idea or explanation.
4. Willingness to tolerate a difficult situation.

Word family

• nonacceptance
• reacceptance
• unacceptance
• self-acceptance
• preacceptance
• banker's acceptance
• trade acceptance

Related words

• accept
• acceptable
• acceptation

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins