# acceptance

Pronunciation: say "uhk-SEP-tuhns" /əkˈsɛp.təns/

## Noun

1. The act of taking something offered, received willingly and with approval or satisfaction.
   - Simple: Taking something that is offered, in a way that shows you are glad to have it.
   - _The committee's acceptance of the proposal was met with applause._
   - _Their warm acceptance of the new neighbor put her at ease._
2. The condition of being received or approved by others.
   - Simple: The state of being welcomed or approved by other people.
   - _Gaining acceptance into the academic community took her nearly a decade._
   - _His unconventional ideas slowly won acceptance among his peers._
3. Belief in or agreement with something; assent to its truth or rightness.
   - Simple: Agreeing that an idea or fact is true or right.
   - _The scientific community's acceptance of the hypothesis grew as evidence accumulated._
   - _Public acceptance of the policy remained low despite the campaign._
4. A single occurrence of accepting something offered or proposed.
   - Simple: A single time when someone takes or agrees to something offered.
   - _The college mailed out thousands of acceptances this spring._
   - _His acceptance of the job offer came by email the next morning._
5. Agreement to the terms or proposal of another by an act that completes a legally binding contract; also, the taking of purchased goods as what was bought or agreed.
   - Simple: Saying yes to another person's offer in a way that makes a contract official.
   - _The buyer's acceptance of the goods closed the sale._
   - _A contract forms only when acceptance matches the offer exactly._
6. A promise by the person on whom a bill of exchange is drawn to pay it when due according to the stated terms; also, the bill itself once it has been accepted.
   - Simple: A promise by the person who must pay a bill of exchange to pay it when due, and the signed bill itself.
   - _The drawee signed the acceptance, agreeing to pay at the end of the quarter._
   - _Banks discount trade acceptances before they reach maturity._
7. The meaning a word or expression usually carries; its accepted sense in ordinary use.
   - Simple: The usual meaning that people give to a word or phrase.
   - _In its ordinary acceptance, 'liberal' simply means generous._
   - _Legal documents often rely on the strict acceptance of each term._
8. A government representative's formal act of taking ownership of delivered supplies, or approving services rendered, as fulfillment of part or all of a contract. *(US)*
   - Simple: The act of a government official agreeing that goods or services delivered meet a contract.
   - _Government acceptance of the delivered parts marked completion of the first phase._
   - _The contracting officer signed the acceptance after inspecting every unit._
9. The official list of horses confirmed as starters for a race. *(Australia, New Zealand)*
   - Simple: A list of the horses allowed to start in a race.
   - _The acceptance for the cup was released the day before the race._
   - _Three favorites were missing from the acceptance after late scratches._
10. An optical measure of the extent of light, combining the area it covers and the range of angles over which it spreads; a synonym of etendue.
   - Simple: In optics, a measure of how spread out a beam of light is in both area and angle.
   - _Designers maximize acceptance to capture as much light as possible from the source._
   - _The detector's acceptance set a hard limit on the signal it could collect._

## Origin

First attested in 1574, from Middle French acceptance, which came from Old French accepter ("accept"). It is equivalent to accept plus the suffix -ance.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/acceptance (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).