accomplish
Americanverb (used with object)
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accomplishes,
present (3rd person singular)
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accomplished,
past participle, past
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accomplishing
present participle
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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.
Synonym Usage
See do 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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accomplishernoun
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preaccomplishverb (used with object)
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accomplishableadjective
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unaccomplishableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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accomplishsimple
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accomplishessimple
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have accomplishedperfect
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has accomplishedperfect
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am accomplishingprogressive
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are accomplishingprogressive
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is accomplishingprogressive
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have been accomplishingperfect progressive
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has been accomplishingperfect progressive
Past
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accomplishedsimple
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had accomplishedperfect
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was accomplishingprogressive
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were accomplishingprogressive
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had been accomplishingperfect progressive
Future
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”; see complete, -ish 2
Explanation
To accomplish something is to get it done. People usually accomplish things that are sources of pride — like goals or records. But people accomplish immoral acts as well — like scandals or cons. The verb accomplish also means to bring about or put into effect. The CEO stood before the employees and outlined all she expected to be accomplished in the next year. She ended her speech by saying, "If we are to accomplish this, we must all work together — and work hard — but the rewards if we succeed will be great both for the company and for those that work here. Thank you for your efforts!"
Vocabulary lists containing accomplish
List 1
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PARCC: Language of the Test (Grade7)
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The SAT: Language of the Test, List 5
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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.
See Examples For:
Users can describe business goals, then plugins in ChatGPT bring together the right tools and information to help them accomplish what they want to do, Oracle said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
"Are there moments that are challenging going back to? Yes. But I hope that insight helps other people navigate situations...that helps them move forward or helps them to go accomplish things."
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026
JetBlue shares rallied on Tuesday after the beleaguered airline sought to allay worries about its business, saying it’s on the cusp of being profitable again — something it hasn’t managed to accomplish since 2019.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026
To accomplish this, the researchers arranged optical components with repeating spectral responses in a sequence.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026
“Lamentably, I would have the opportunity to accomplish only one feat or the other. Both would not be possible.”
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
"Caleb's work accomplishes all of this and more, and on a massive evolutionary scale."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 25, 2026
Use of the market path accomplishes at least two things that are important to Warsh: It preserves market signals and it gets the Fed out of forward interest-rate guidance.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Mr. Sheehan accomplishes here what might otherwise take hundreds of scholars to produce in a standard reference work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026
Part of the issue is that much of the good that a president accomplishes occurs during the first year of a term—and is immediately priced in.
From Barron's ● Jan. 2, 2026
The analogy is more poetic than precise, for the cell accomplishes its “burning” with only the moderate heat of the body’s normal temperature.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
For "Franc", who initiated the event, the mission was accomplished: "This is what we wanted, to come and show Senegalese culture, our pride. Wrestling, it's our sport," he said.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
Traditionally, researchers have accomplished this by accelerating gold nuclei to enormous speeds and crashing them into one another.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026
"But I'm walking away feeling super proud and like I've really accomplished something here."
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
You can see models of these amazing, otherworldly vehicles at the Oschin and thrill at the thought of all they have accomplished in the name of science.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
Since Burger was an accomplished artist and violin player, he was instructed to set up a studio and advertise his services as a commercial artist in the Chicago Tribune newspaper.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
"Given the critical shortage of air defense missiles from our partners, our warriors are accomplishing truly incredible things," Zelensky said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
“What is keeping Tesla back from accomplishing these short-term goals that they’ve set for themselves?”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
Buffett was an enthusiastic supporter of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, stating in 2006 he "greatly" admired what it was accomplishing and promised to make yearly donations.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
She appears to be accomplishing all three of those goals.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2026
“I mean they’re paying me and I just wasn’t accomplishing anything over there.”
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
