accreditation

American  

[uh-kred-i-tay-shuhn] / əˌkrɛd ɪˈteɪ ʃən /

noun

• accreditations
  plural

1. the act of giving official authority or approval, or the resulting status; certification.

   Today they officially opened the process of accreditation for media wanting to cover World Youth Day.

2. the act of certifying an educational institution or program as meeting all official formal requirements of academic excellence, facilities, curriculum, etc.; the status of being so certified.

   Universities applying for membership in the association must have undergone, at the national or regional level, a process of quality assurance or accreditation.

3. the act of attributing or ascribing some quality, status, or action to a person or thing.

   His other poems added to his accreditation as a first-class poet.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• reaccreditation
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• accreditations
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of accreditation

accredit ( def. ) + -ation ( def. )

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Explanation

Accreditation is the act of granting credit or recognition, especially to an educational institution that maintains suitable standards. Accreditation is necessary to any person or institution in education that needs to prove that they meet a general standard of quality. If you earn a teaching certificate, then you have an accreditation to teach. Usually you'll hear this word in relation to institutions like colleges and universities.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

accreditation accreditations

A spokeswoman for the ABA’s accreditation council said the group plans to respond to the Justice Department.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Delivering his verdicts, Judge Smith criticised the company's "cavalier" and "careless" approach to the accreditation process, which would allow it to conduct testing.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

Around 100 influencers and content creators have been granted accreditation for the tournament in New York - double the amount from last year.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

Commercial trucking schools that are losing accreditation under a new crackdown by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy against facilities that certify drivers who aren’t proficient in English.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

Although a large number of reporters had been interested in attending Bobby Fischer’s controversial press conference, journalists were forced to pay $1,000 for accreditation at Sveti Stefan.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Pentagon's press access overhaul, which saw accreditations from a host of prominent media outlets withdrawn, violated the constitution.

From Barron's ● Mar. 21, 2026

There are also sustainability accreditations or initiatives which encourage reporting on biodiversity and nature, such as the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 2, 2026

"These guys are so good at what they do, they cover all their bases, they get accreditations that they need."

From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2025

Eighty press accreditations were awarded to foreign news outlets, including the New York Times, Reuters, Paris Match, Le Figaro, and Le Monde.

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2025

"It's extremely difficult" for unapproved parts to enter the supply chain, said Michele Dickstein, president of ASA, which provides widely adopted accreditations and carries out about 400 audits a year.

From Reuters ● Oct. 5, 2023

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Related Words

• certificate
• credential
• license
• passport
• permission
• permit
• pledge
• sanction
• subpoena
• summons
• ticket

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