accomplish
Formsaccomplishes, accomplishing, accomplished
- 1To finish a task or undertaking successfully.
The team accomplished its quarterly targets ahead of schedule.
They worked overtime to accomplish what the client demanded.
Similarachieve, complete, fulfill, attain, reach
Note
The core sense, and the one the word's history explains best. Middle English accomplisshen came through Old French acomplir from Latin complēre, "to fill up, complete", the same Latin verb behind complete. To accomplish a task is, at root, to fill it out to its end. The object names the work itself: targets, demands, goals. The word reached English in the late 14th century.
- 2To carry out fully and bring to complete fulfillment.
The committee accomplished every item on its agenda.
Skilled negotiators accomplish difficult deals through patience.
Similarcomplete, execute, fulfill, achieve, finish
Note
Fulfillment carries the weight here. The object is something promised or planned that is brought to pass, such as a design, an object, or a promise. The King James Bible of 1611 uses it of prophecy: "This that is written must yet be accomplished in me." It sits close to the plain "finish successfully" sense, but it points to an intention kept rather than work got through.
- 3To complete a span of time or a distance traveled.
The expedition accomplished three hundred miles before the first snowfall.
Caravans accomplish the desert route only with careful planning.
Similarcover, complete, travel, traverse
Note
Here the object is a measure rather than a task: years, miles, leagues. The King James Bible of 1611 speaks of accomplishing "seventy years," and William H. Prescott in 1855 writes of a commander who "had accomplished half a league or more." Both describe a span gone through, not a goal achieved. In everyday writing, cover is the plainer verb for distance.
- 4To fill out a form completely, supplying the required information.
Applicants must accomplish the registration form in black ink.
He accomplished all three documents before the deadline.
Similarcomplete
Note
A Philippine English use found on paperwork: applicants are asked to accomplish a form, meaning to fill in every required field. It keeps close to the Latin "fill up" behind the core sense. Readers outside the Philippines may not recognize it, so fill out or complete is the safer choice in writing meant for an international audience.
Less common meanings
- 5To equip a person thoroughly with skills and refinement, rendering them polished and well-trained.
Like a craftsman shaping raw wood into fine furniture.
The academy sought to accomplish its pupils in every elegant art.
Travel and study had accomplished him in the manners of three courts.
Note
An archaic use in which the object is the one being fitted out. Shakespeare's Henry V has "the armorers accomplishing the knights," arming them completely. By 1863 Charles Cowden Clarke has qualities that "go to accomplish a perfect woman." The adjective accomplished, as in an accomplished pianist, keeps this sense alive. The verb itself belongs to historical or deliberately old-fashioned writing.
- 6To gain or obtain something for oneself.
Like a prospector finally striking the gold he sought.
The merchant sought to accomplish lands and titles through his marriage.
And more unlikely / Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns!
c. 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt,”Note
An obsolete use in which the object is a possession, not a task. Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 3 sets something as "more unlikely / Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns!" When you meet it in older texts, read it as gain or obtain. It should not be used this way today, where it would read as a mistake for achieving something.
Practice
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Origin
This word came into Middle English (accomplisshen) from Old French acomplir (Modern French accomplir), which derives from Vulgar Latin *(ac)complīre and ultimately from Latin complēre ('fill up, complete', the source of English 'complete'). It was first attested in the late 14th century.