accomplish
Americanverb (used with object)
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to bring to its goal or conclusion; carry out; perform; finish.
to accomplish one's mission.
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to complete (a distance or period of time).
to have accomplished the age of 70;
We accomplished the journey in little more than an hour.
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Archaic. to provide polish to; perfect.
verb
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to manage to do; achieve
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to conclude successfully; complete
Usage
What does accomplish mean? Accomplish means to carry out or finish an action—to complete what you set out to do. To accomplish a goal is to complete it.Accomplish is often (though not always) used in the context of completing a set goal—one that is planned or desired before it is accomplished. Accomplish is generally used in a positive way in the context of completing beneficial goals (though a person can accomplish bad things—many supervillains hope to accomplish a global takeover).The completion of a goal or anything accomplished can be called an accomplishment, which means about the same thing as achievement.Someone who has accomplished many impressive things in life or in their career can be described with the adjective accomplished. It’s especially used to indicate that a person is very experienced, skilled, and perhaps awarded in their field, as in an accomplished singer.Much less commonly, accomplish can mean to reach a destination or certain age, as in I never thought I would accomplish the age of 100.Example: I’m hoping to accomplish everything on my to-do list today.
Related Words
See do 1.
Other Word Forms
- accomplishable adjective
- accomplisher noun
- preaccomplish verb (used with object)
- unaccomplishable adjective
Etymology
Origin of accomplish
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French accompliss-, stem of acomplir, equivalent to a- ac- + complir, ultimately from Latin complēre “to fill”; complete, -ish 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Although researchers have previously reported laboratory synthesis of heitziamide A, they had not accomplished the total asymmetric synthesis of its naturally occurring enantiomer.
From Science Daily
"We're starting to see projects that used to take big teams now be accomplished by a single, very talented person," Zuckerberg said.
From BBC
Newspaper editors supportive of the spirits ran stories disparaging Chauncey and his brother as “itinerant, catch-penny lecturers,” “dunces” and “accomplished mountebanks.”
From Literature
He takes his time absorbing every seemingly inconsequential detail as he becomes attached to the personalities of eccentrics on their self-assigned quests to accomplish unlikely goals.
America’s goals—and whether military action can accomplish them—are less clear.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
