accessible

American  

[ak-ses-uh-buhl, ik-] / ækˈsɛs ə bəl, ɪk- /

adjective

1. easy to approach, reach, enter, speak with, or use.

2. able to be used, entered, reached, etc..

   an accessible road; accessible Mayan ruins.

3. suitable for disabled people to reach, enter, or use, as a result of design modifications: modified controllers to make video games accessible.

   wheelchair-accessible vans;

   modified controllers to make video games accessible.

4. readily understandable.

   Students may believe that poetry is not accessible because of its metaphorical language.

5. obtainable; attainable.

   accessible evidence.

6. open to the influence of (usually followed byto ).

   accessible to bribery.

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accessible British  

/ əkˈsɛsəbəl /

adjective

1. easy to approach, enter, use, or understand

2. likely to be affected by; open to; susceptible to

3. obtainable; available

4. easy for disabled people to enter or use

5. logic (of a possible world) surveyable from some other world so that the truth value of statements about it can be known. A statement possibly p is true in a world W if and only if p is true in some worlds accessible to W

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Other Word Forms

• accessibility
  noun
• accessibly
  adverb
• nonaccessible
  adjective
• preaccessible
  adjective
• unaccessible
  adjective
• unaccessibly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of accessible

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, Middle French, from Late Latin accessibilis; see origin at access, -ible

Explanation

Accessible can mean easy to get to. If the mall is easily accessible, you might be tempted to spend a lot of money on your lunch breaks. The "within reach" definition of the adjective accessible does not just refer to physical distance. A person can be accessible if they are approachable and friendly. A celebrity that is accessible probably signs a lot of autographs and grants interviews. The word can also describe something that is easily understood. You might need to read a plot summary of a long convoluted novel — to make it more accessible or easy to follow.

Example Sentences

Although “The Mandalorian and Grogu” builds on storylines from the streaming show, the film was designed to be accessible to viewers who had never watched it.

From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026

The new technique offers a more efficient and accessible way to produce housanes while expanding the range of molecules that can be built from these high-tension structures.

From Science Daily • May 20, 2026

Miranda's land is the last strip of Barbuda's southern coastline that is still accessible to locals.

From BBC • May 20, 2026

Walsh treats well-documented, widely accessible historical facts as if they were buried state secrets, weaponizing the baseline historical illiteracy of his audience to construct a narrative of deception.

From Salon • May 20, 2026

His insistence on hope and the potential for mobility, I was coming to see, came from an entirely different and not easily accessible place.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

Related Words

• available
• handy
• reachable
• usable