v. 1
To receive, especially with a consent, with favour, or with approval.
v. 2
To admit to a place or a group.
The Boy Scouts were going to accept him as a member.
v. 3
To regard as proper, usual, true, or to believe in.
I accept the notion that Christ lived.
v. 4
To receive as adequate or satisfactory.

Related words

Word family: accepted accepter acceptive acceptability acceptable acceptableness acceptably acceptance

Forms

Past participle: accepted
e.g. accepted → received, taken, embraced, admitted…

Choose the right word

Accept or Assume?

One may accept an obligation or assume an authority that properly belongs to him, or he may assume an obligation or indebtedness that could not be required of him.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

receive It'll be two weeks before you receive the article.
admit I must admit I don't like much contemporary music.
acknowledge Could you please acknowledge receipt of this note?
embrace He was trying to persuade me to embrace his ideas.
agree Whether you agree or not, I cannot change my mind.
approve I approve of everything that you did, except this.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
accept		steady
receive		steady
admit		steady
acknowledge		rising
embrace		rising
agree		falling

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters: get¹, buy¹
4 letters: have¹, take¹, bear¹, hail¹, avow²
5 letters: value², agree², admit², adopt², abide²
6 letters: credit², assume², suffer², obtain², endure², assent², accede²
7 letters: welcome², receive², consent², embrace², approve², swallow², confess², undergo³, endorse²
8 letters: estimate³, tolerate³
9 letters: recognize³, recognise³, acquiesce³
11 letters: acknowledge³

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (avow² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: accepter
Español: aceptar