access

American  

[ak-ses] / ˈæk sɛs /

noun

• accesses
  plural

1. the ability, right, or permission to approach, enter, speak with, or use; admittance.

   They have access to the files.

2. a way or means of approach.

   The only access to the house was a rough dirt road.

3. the state or quality of being approachable.

   Located deep in the woods on an island with no dock, the cabin was difficult of access.

4. Theology. approach to God through Jesus Christ.

5. an attack or onset, as of a disease or symptom.

   Some influenza patients experience attacks for many weeks after the primary access.

   In a violent access of coughing I fractured one of my ribs.

6. a sudden, strong burst of emotion.

   In an access of clumsy tenderness, he tried to dry the tears that trembled on her eyelashes.

7. accession.

8. public-access television.

---

verb (used with object)

• accesses,
  present (3rd person singular)
• accessed,
  past participle,  past
• accessing
  present participle

1. to make contact with or gain access to; be able to reach, approach, enter, etc..

   Bank customers can access their checking accounts instantly through the online portal.

2. Computers. (of a program or system component) to retrieve (data) for use by another program or application or for transfer from one part of the system to another.

   This key enables other applications to access data from within the event management system even if you aren't logged in.

adjective

1. Television. (of programming, time, etc.) available to the public.

   Six channels now offer access services.

access British  

/ ˈæksɛs /

noun

1. the act of approaching or entering

2. the condition of allowing entry, esp (of a building or room) allowing entry by wheelchairs, prams, etc

3. the right or privilege to approach, reach, enter, or make use of something

4. a way or means of approach or entry

5. the opportunity or right to see or approach someone

   she fights for divorce and free access to her children

6. (modifier) designating programmes made by the general public as distinguished from those made by professional broadcasters

   access television

7. a sudden outburst or attack, as of rage or disease

---

verb

1. to gain access to; make accessible or available

2. (tr) computing

   1. to obtain or retrieve (information) from a storage device

   2. to place (information) in a storage device See also direct access sequential access

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• preaccess
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• accesses
  plural

Participles

• accessing
  present
• accessed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• access
  simple
• accesses
  simple
• have accessed
  perfect
• has accessed
  perfect
• am accessing
  progressive
• are accessing
  progressive
• is accessing
  progressive
• have been accessing
  perfect progressive
• has been accessing
  perfect progressive

Past

• accessed
  simple
• had accessed
  perfect
• was accessing
  progressive
• were accessing
  progressive
• had been accessing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will access
  simple
• will have accessed
  perfect
• will be accessing
  progressive
• will have been accessing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of access

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English accesse, from Old French acces or directly from Latin accessus “an approach,” equivalent to acced-, variant stem of accēdere “to accede ” + -tus suffix of verb action

Explanation

Most libraries provide computers you can use to access the Internet. If chemicals are being stolen from a lab, you might ask who has access to the lab. Access is approaching or making use of something, or the ability to do so Sometimes the word is applied to a person. If you work in the same room as your boss, you might have easy access to her. A really good boss will work hard to make herself accessible to her employees. Access is from Middle English, from Middle French acces "arrival," from Latin accessus "an approach," from accedere "to approach."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

access accesses accessed accessing

NHS Tayside said it was "investigating the circumstances" of the alleged breach that happened in a clinical area where staff access patient information.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

However, customers that do have access to Nvidia’s allocations, or that can scale custom silicon projects, “stand to benefit disproportionately,” he added.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026

In July, two OpenAI models broke out of their testing environment to access the internet and hack the open-source AI tool provider Hugging Face.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

It operates on an open access basis, meaning it sets its own fares, takes on all revenue risk and receives no taxpayer-funded subsidies.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

And, of course, they want access to all the resources the Philippines have to offer.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

In reality, as Slater notes, the demographics of who accesses psychotherapy show that the issue is often a matter of access, not will.

From Salon ● May 18, 2026

Doing so accesses the car’s maximum torque of over 1,000 Newton-meters—793 lb-ft.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026

"Trimingham beach is a really remote location and there aren't any nearby beach accesses so they were put there to move things around like concrete, steel sheet piles and timber."

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2024

Benesch accesses a fundamental decency that almost makes Nowak’s sneakiness forgivable.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2024

This leads to many fluctuations and sudden accesses of prosperity.

From The Task of Social Hygiene by Ellis, Havelock

Meta said one of its AI models accessed the internet and hacked a third-party service during a cybersecurity test.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

It reviewed thousands of evaluations where Claude could have accessed the internet from within or while interacting with third parties.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026

Anthropic evaluated more than 141,000 "evaluation runs" and found that three different versions of its model, known as Claude, improperly accessed the systems of three unnamed organizations.

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

"The information involved is limited to customer service contact details relating to individuals and organisations. No other data has been accessed".

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

It came from the well that accessed an underground arm of the Sogozha River.

From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack

The time restriction would be enabled by default settings on social media accounts for children aged 16 and 17, preventing them from accessing social media sites between midnight and 6:00 am.

From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026

"We have a growing population requiring services and they're having delays accessing them."

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

Organizations interested in accessing tickets can fill out a form at la28.org.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

She understands that children in dense districts face some of the steepest challenges to accessing outdoor play.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

I don’t know many of the people here, but that’s not a failure of accessing.

From "Every Day" by David Levithan

Related Words

• approach
• connection
• entry