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.
“Puerto Rico, believe me when I say that we are so much bigger than 100 by 35 and there is nothing that exists that we can’t accomplish,” the “Dakiti” artist said in Spanish.
From Los Angeles Times
Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang said late Tuesday at an event hosted by Cisco that it makes sense for AI to use existing tools to accomplish tasks, rather than reinventing them.
Over his career he’s won six Super Bowls, three of them as a playcaller, which makes him one of the most accomplished offensive assistants in football history.
“There are still a couple things to be tied up with the other 2 musics of the program but we are so close to accomplishing it!”
From Los Angeles Times
"Very few people know or have experienced how difficult that journey is, but my family, my team and I have put all of our energy, work and dedication into it to accomplish this goal."
From Barron's
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.
