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.

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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

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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

There are other initiatives to expand access, including another bill Newsom signed last year that would include infertility coverage for individual and small group health insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026

Launching an "urgent" investigation, Dr Martin Mansfield, deputy chief medical officer at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said that any unauthorised access of patient data was "completely unacceptable".

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

Zach Meyers of CERRE, a Brussels-based think tank, echoed some of Rombach's concerns, saying the "biggest barrier" to AI growth and innovation in Europe was access to capital.

From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026

Mileva blocked Madelyn’s internet access, and has been trying to fill her daughter’s time with more in-person hangouts with friends.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

At the fair, Mim bought a special pass allowing them access to all the rides and exhibitions.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman

Harvey said it accesses closed models through APIs provided by model providers and authorized cloud providers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

So, if you wanted to exclude Netflix, you’d have to know all the domains it accesses to get it to work properly, which isn’t always practical.

From Salon ● Mar. 21, 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

“For us, it accesses a whole new market and really drives a tremendous amount of new reach that we weren’t servicing before,” said Murdoch.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2024

That the progress of philosophy has hardened Browning's heart to accesses of passion, or cramped his creative imagination?

From Platform Monologues by T. G. (Thomas George) Tucker

The platform however argues it is a "generic male voice" whose perceived similarity to Tsuda's is subjective at best, according to court records accessed by AFP.

From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026

In the case of the Commerce Department, an agent accessed a U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

An OpenAI spokesperson said its models took unintended actions while looking up answers during an evaluation, but no patient records were accessed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

Albanese said the agent accessed both public and non-public files and a "forensic investigation" is under way to find out if other government systems were affected.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

Then I opened my grail diary and accessed the subfolder devoted to the legendary Canadian rock band Rush.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Plants would need help accessing limited resources while also coping with harsh growing conditions.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026

Two-factor authentication for accessing her bank accounts is another barrier to criminals.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026

Zuckerberg said the company is releasing more privacy protections that would prevent anyone including Meta from accessing people’s data when they use certain AI features on their glasses.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

Isba says children are disadvantaged when it comes to accessing services.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

It doesn’t take much accessing to know he left just after the youngest daughter was born, and it’s been a struggle for their mom ever since.

From "Every Day" by David Levithan

Related Words

• approach
• connection
• entry