admission
Americannoun
-
the act of allowing to enter; entrance granted by permission, by provision or existence of pecuniary means, or by the removal of obstacles.
the admission of foreign aid workers into the zone of active conflict.
-
right or permission to enter.
granting admission to the rare books room.
- Synonyms:
- access
-
the price paid for entrance, as to a theater or ball park.
-
an act or condition of being received or accepted in a position, profession, occupation, or office; appointment.
admission to the bar.
-
confession of a charge, an error, or a crime; acknowledgment.
His admission of the theft solved the mystery.
-
an acknowledgment of the truth of something.
-
a point or statement admitted; concession.
noun
-
permission to enter or the right, authority, etc, to enter
-
the price charged for entrance
-
acceptance for a position, office, etc
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a confession, as of a crime, mistake, etc
-
an acknowledgment of the truth or validity of something
Usage
What is an admission? An admission is entrance by permission or the removal of obstacles to entry, as in The admission of girls into the science program has been a long time coming. Admission is also a right or permission to enter, as in Only employees have admission to the backstage area. Admission can also be the price paid in order to enter, as at a sports or theater event. An admission can also be a confession or acknowledgement of the truth, as when you admit that you were the one who broke your mother’s favorite dish. Example: Just the first act of the play was worth the price of admission.
Synonym Usage
See entrance 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of admission
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Anglo-French and Latin admissiōn- (stem of admissiō ), equivalent to admiss-, past participial stem of the verb admittere admit + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
If you pay admission, you're paying a fee in order to attend something, like an event or a movie. After you pay admission to the movie theater, you head straight to the popcorn stand. The noun admission stems from the Latin word admissionem, meaning "a letting in." It often refers to a fee charged for entry, but it can also describe the process of being granted entry. The university's admission of the new student was welcome news — now he has access to the school's research facilities. An admission can also be a confession that something is true, such as your brother's surly admission that he was the one who popped your bike tire.
Vocabulary lists containing admission
Send a Message: Mit and Miss
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"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney
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Education and Academics, List 1
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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:
Two factors pushed the systemwide admission rate up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Taking the Fifth is not an admission of guilt - it is designed to protect individuals against coercion, mistakes, and unfair burden-shifting.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
With new entries from Citigroup and Robinhood Markets, and updated cards from American Express and JPMorgan Chase, companies have upped the ante on perks—and raised the price of admission.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
But they’re free to refuse admission to students for a range of other reasons.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
“Recollect the admission you have made, and don’t try to go from it presently.”
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
In recent years, Riverside and Merced have increased their numbers by going after students who met UC’s admissions requirements but did not include those campuses in their UC fall applications.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
My parents couldn’t afford private school, so I took the admissions test for Stuyvesant, one of the city’s finest public high schools.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
But his life was plagued by bouts of acute depression which caused repeated admissions to psychiatric hospitals - where Oddie suffered from severe lithium poisoning as a result of his treatment.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
The justices held that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment prohibited the Virginia Military Institute, a public college, from limiting admissions to men.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
“It might be hard to explain that to the director of admissions at Harvard,” the Colonel responded.
From "Looking for Alaska" by John Green
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.
