accomplish

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.

The first records of the word accomplish come from the 1300s. It comes from the Old French acomplir, meaning “to complete,” ultimately from the Latin complēre, which means to “to fill up” and is also the basis of the word complete.

Accomplish and achieve can be used as synonyms, but they sometimes imply slightly different things. Achieve and achievement often imply the completion of something important or difficult—a lofty goal or a great feat. You can accomplish a lofty goal or a great feat, but the word accomplish itself doesn’t typically imply this. Rather, it usually just means to complete something (regardless of how impressive it is).

What are some other forms related to accomplish?

• accomplishment (noun)
• accomplished (adjective)
• unaccomplished (adjective)
• accomplishable (adjective)
• accomplisher (noun)

What are some synonyms for accomplish?

• achieve
• attain
• complete
• finish
• perform

What are some words that share a root or word element with accomplish? 

• complete
• fait accompli

What are some words that often get used in discussing accomplish?

• goal
• mission
• succeed
• task
• feat
• able
• extraordinary

Accomplish is very commonly used. It’s usually used in a positive way in the context of completing goals.

Notre Dame finally makes a conference title game… unreal it took them this long to accomplish this.

— Eric Mac Lain (@EricMacLain) December 1, 2020

Anything we want to accomplish in life will be easier to manage

if we break it down into tiny pieces and handle them one at a time

— Humble The Poet (@humblethepoet) December 2, 2020

I don’t know who needs to hear this but… Cheer for people who accomplish and level up in this world. There’s room for ALL of us!! Jealousy won’t get you far…

— Darryl Forges (@Darryl_Forges) December 5, 2020

Which of the following words is NOT a synonym of accomplish?

A. achieve

B. fail

C. realize

D. attain