accomplish

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈkʌm.plɪʃ/, /əˈkɒm.plɪʃ/ (UK); /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/, /əˈkʌm.plɪʃ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English accomplisshen, borrowed from Old French acomplir (“to fulfil, fill up, complete”), from its lengthened stem acompliss-,^[2][3][4] from Vulgar Latin *accomplēre,^[2][3] from Latin ad-, to, and complēre, to fill up, fulfil (see complete),^[3][2][5] from com-, intensive, and plēre, to fill,^[3] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *pele- (“to fill”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To fulfil, perform or carry out an undertaking: about 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius, in Barnhart; about 1386 in the OED.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

To bring a work to an end, complete it, is from 1447,^[6] and to perfect someone in mental attainments and graces from 1475,^[6] the source of accomplished.^[6] To equip perfectly is from 1588,^[6] and to complete a period of time from 1574.^[6] Accomplishment is from about 1425.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – to fulfil.^[2]
• c. 1425 – accomplishment.^[2]
• 1447 – to complete a work.^[6]
• 1475 – to perfect in graces.^[6]
• 1574 – to complete a period of time.^[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To succeed in doing; to achieve or bring about.
2. To reach the end of; to complete.

Word family

• accomplishable
• accomplisher
• accomplishment

Related words

• complete
• comply
• accomplished
• full

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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