admitting

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of admit.

   The manager spent the whole meeting admitting fault for the missed deadline.

   Admitting defeat early, the candidate called her opponent to concede.

   Note

   The -ing form doubles the final t of admit and carries every sense of the verb. A following word often shows which sense is meant. Admitting the charge, or admitting to it, is conceding. A rule admitting of no exceptions is permitting. A hospital admitting a patient is letting someone in. As a gerund it can stand as a subject: admitting fault takes nerve.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   An act of admission; the allowing of someone or something to enter.

   The admitting of refugees at the border required extensive paperwork.

   Slow admitting at the stadium gate left long lines forming outside.

   Similaradmission, admittance, entry

   Oppositeexclusion

   Note

   Unlike the gerund of the verb form, this noun can be counted and made plural. The Literary Panorama of 1811 pairs admittings with omittings of guests to a ceremony's festivities, so each plural stands for many separate decisions about who gets in. As a true noun it takes an article and an of-phrase (the admitting of refugees) rather than a direct object.

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