accommodation

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˌkɒm.əˈdeɪ.ʃən/ (UK); /əˌkɑ.məˈdeɪ.ʃən/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French accommodation, from Latin accommodātiō, accommodātiōnem, an adjustment,^[2][3] from accommodāre, to make fit, fit one thing to another (see accommodate).^[2][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

That which supplies a want or need: about 1600 in Etymonline, the early 17th century in the SOED.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

An appliance or anything that gives aid is from the 1610s,^[2] and the act of accommodating, adapting, from 1644 (the 1640s).^[6][2] An arrangement of a dispute, a compromise, is from 1645.^[6][2] The adaptation of a word or system to something different is from 1724,^[6] and a conciliatory disposition from 1768.^[6] Lodging and board, the commonest modern sense, is a later use.^[7][8] An accommodation train, stopping at all stations, is American, and the term was used earlier of stagecoaches (1811).^[2] The adjustment of the eye to view objects at different distances is from 1833.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1600 – something that meets a need.^[2]
• 1644 – adaptation.^[6]
• 1645 – a settlement of a dispute.^[6]
• 1768 – a conciliatory attitude.^[6]
• 1811 – accommodation coach.^[2]
• 1833 – accommodation of the eye.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A place to live or stay; lodgings, sometimes with food.
2. Adjustment or adaptation to new circumstances.
3. A settlement or compromise between opposing views.
4. Something that meets a need; a convenience.
5. (physiology) The adjustment of the eye's lens to see objects at different distances.

Word family

• accommodational
• accommodationist
• nonaccommodation
• accommodation bill
• accommodation line
• accommodation ladder
• accommodation train

Related words

• accommodate
• commodity
• commode
• mode

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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