DictionaryAI

admit

verb
ad-MIT/ədˈmɪt/

Formsadmits, admitting, admitted

5 meanings of admit

Practice

  1. 1
    confessverbtransitive or intransitive
    To concede that something is true; to acknowledge a fact or accusation, especially one that can no longer be denied.

    The company refused to admit any wrongdoing in the settlement.

    Under questioning, the suspect admitted to being near the warehouse that night.

    UsageUse admit something, admit (that) + a clause, admit doing, or admit to doing: he admitted to taking it (not incorrect: admitted to take).

    Similarconfess

    Oppositedeny

  2. 2
    accept as memberverbtransitive
    To accept (someone) into a profession or organization, or to allow (someone) to enjoy a right or privilege.

    The society will admit only three new fellows this year, chosen for their published research.

    The guild admitted apprentices only after seven years of training.

    UsageUsually admit someone to a school, society or profession: admitted to the bar, admitted to college.

    Similaraccept, induct, enroll

    Oppositereject

    Note

    Here the entrance is into a standing rather than a room, and the construction is admit someone to something: an attorney admitted to the bar, a prisoner admitted to bail. Bail shows how wide the frame runs, since a prisoner admitted to bail has been granted a privilege, not a membership.

  3. 3
    let inverbtransitive
    To allow to enter or be taken in, whether into a physical place, into the mind, or into consideration.

    Each pass admits two visitors to the exhibit.

    The judge declined to admit the recording into evidence.

    UsageOften admit someone to or into a place; a ticket admits one person.

    Similarallow, accept, receive

    Oppositeexclude, reject, refuse, bar

    Note

    The entrance can be literal or figurative, so a visitor, a thought or a piece of evidence can all be admitted. The one doing the admitting need not be a person, either: a ticket admits its holder into a playhouse.

  4. 4
    into hospitalverbtransitive
    To accept (a patient) into a hospital or similar facility for treatment.

    After reviewing the scans, the surgeon chose to admit the patient overnight.

    The doctors decided to admit her overnight so they could keep an eye on her breathing.

    UsageOften passive: she was admitted to the hospital, or admitted overnight or for tests.

    Similarhospitalize

    Oppositedischarge

Less common meaning

  1. 5
    leave room forverbtransitive or intransitive
    To allow or leave room for something; to make it possible (often followed by of).

    The contract's language admits more than one interpretation.

    Some truths admit of no simple explanation.

    UsageThe subject is usually a thing, and of may follow or not: the rule admits (of) no exceptions.

    Similarpermit

    Note

    A sense whose subject is usually a thing, not a person: words, bells, a tree, a prognosis. William Holder writes in 1669 that four bells admit twenty-four changes. John Mordant's elm admits of transplantation in 1761, and in 1986 Michael Bronski writes of a prognosis that admitted a possible 18 more months.

Practice

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Origin

Latin admittō ("to allow entrance," literally "to send to"), built from ad- ("to") and mittere ("to send"), passed into Old French as admettre; English borrowed it from there, and in Middle English it was admitten.