ACCEPTANCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does acceptance mean? 

• ACCEPTANCE (noun)
  The noun ACCEPTANCE has 7 senses:

1. the mental attitude that something is believable and should be accepted as true

2. the act of accepting with approval; favorable reception

3. the state of being acceptable and accepted

4. (contract law) words signifying consent to the terms of an offer (thereby creating a contract)

5. banking: a time draft drawn on and accepted by a bank

6. a disposition to tolerate or accept people or situations

7. the act of taking something that is offered

  Familiarity information: ACCEPTANCE used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ACCEPTANCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The mental attitude that something is believable and should be accepted as true

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

acceptance; credence

Context example:

acceptance of Newtonian mechanics was unquestioned for 200 years

Hypernyms ("acceptance" is a kind of...):

attitude; mental attitude (a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "acceptance"):

fatalism (a submissive mental attitude resulting from acceptance of the doctrine that everything that happens is predetermined and inevitable)

recognition (an acceptance (as of a claim) as true and valid)

Derivation:

accept (consider or hold as true)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of accepting with approval; favorable reception

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

acceptance; acceptation; adoption; espousal

Context example:

the proposal found wide acceptance

Hypernyms ("acceptance" is a kind of...):

approval; approving; blessing (the formal act of approving)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "acceptance"):

bosom; embrace (a close affectionate and protective acceptance)

Derivation:

accept (react favorably to; consider right and proper)

acceptant (accepting willingly)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The state of being acceptable and accepted

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

torn jeans received no acceptance at the country club

Hypernyms ("acceptance" is a kind of...):

situation; state of affairs (the general state of things; the combination of circumstances at a given time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "acceptance"):

vogue (a current state of general acceptance and use)

acknowledgement; acknowledgment; recognition (the state or quality of being recognized or acknowledged)

approval; favorable reception; favourable reception (acceptance as satisfactory)

acceptation (acceptance as true or valid)

content; contentedness (the state of being contented with your situation in life)

acquiescence (acceptance without protest)

welcome (the state of being welcome)

Antonym:

rejection (the state of being rejected)

Derivation:

accept (react favorably to; consider right and proper)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(contract law) words signifying consent to the terms of an offer (thereby creating a contract)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("acceptance" is a kind of...):

acquiescence; assent (agreement with a statement or proposal to do something)

Domain category:

contract law (that branch of jurisprudence that studies the rights and obligations of parties entering into contracts)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Banking: a time draft drawn on and accepted by a bank

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

acceptance; banker's acceptance

Hypernyms ("acceptance" is a kind of...):

bill of exchange; draft; order of payment (a document ordering the payment of money; drawn by one person or bank on another)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A disposition to tolerate or accept people or situations

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

acceptance; sufferance; toleration

Context example:

all people should practice toleration and live together in peace

Hypernyms ("acceptance" is a kind of...):

permissiveness; tolerance (a disposition to allow freedom of choice and behavior)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "acceptance"):

self acceptance (an acceptance of yourself as you are, warts and all)

Derivation:

accept (tolerate or accommodate oneself to)

acceptant (accepting willingly)

Sense 7

Meaning:

The act of taking something that is offered

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

he anticipated their acceptance of his offer

Hypernyms ("acceptance" is a kind of...):

acquisition (the act of contracting or assuming or acquiring possession of something)

Derivation:

accept (receive willingly something given or offered)

acceptant (accepting willingly)

 Context examples 

It could not be an acceptance.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

One of the main activities of the third house covers contracts, but with Mercury retrograde, do your best to delay signing any binding agreement or even giving your verbal acceptance.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The program helps to guide each individual towards a positive understanding, acceptance and change of the problems at hand whereby the health and safety of the public is maintained.

(Diversion Program, NCI Thesaurus)

This initiative is intended to advance the state-of-the-art in digital mammography displays and workstation design to facilitate clinical acceptance and implementation of digital mammography for improved breast cancer diagnosis.

(Development and Testing of Digital Mammography Displays and Workstations, NCI Thesaurus)

Allowing establishment of infection or acceptance of graft material.

(Permissiveness, NCI Thesaurus)

Let him live with me in the interchange of kindness, and instead of injury I would bestow every benefit upon him with tears of gratitude at his acceptance.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The stout old English counsellor looked somewhat blank at this prompt acceptance of his master's bounty.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A document containing a formal acceptance as satisfactory, and/or official agreement or permission.

(Approval Document, NCI Thesaurus)

A date of an official approbation, recognition, or acceptance as satisfactory.

(Approval Date, NCI Thesaurus)

The researchers speculate that because companion animals offer unqualified acceptance, their presence makes the children feel more secure.

(Animals’ presence may ease social anxiety in kids with autism, NIH)