admit
Americanverb (used with object)
-
admits,
present (3rd person singular)
-
admitted,
past participle, past
-
admitting
present participle
-
to allow to enter; grant or afford entrance to.
to admit a student to college.
- Synonyms:
- receive
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to give right or means of entrance to.
This ticket admits two people.
-
to register (a person) as an inpatient at a hospital.
After seeing the test results, the emergency room doctor admitted her and put her on intravenous fluids.
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to permit to exercise a certain function or privilege.
admitted to the bar.
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to permit; allow.
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to allow or concede as valid.
to admit the force of an argument.
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to acknowledge; confess.
He admitted his guilt.
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to grant in argument; concede.
The fact is admitted.
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to have capacity for.
This passage admits two abreast.
verb (used without object)
-
admits,
present (3rd person singular)
-
admitted,
past participle, past
-
admitting
present participle
-
to permit entrance; give access.
This door admits to the garden.
-
to permit the possibility of something; allow (usually followed byof ).
The contract admits of no other interpretation.
verb
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(may take a clause as object) to confess or acknowledge (a crime, mistake, etc)
-
(may take a clause as object) to concede (the truth or validity of something)
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to allow to enter; let in
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(foll by to) to allow participation (in) or the right to be part (of)
to admit to the profession
-
to allow (of); leave room (for)
-
(intr) to give access
the door admits onto the lawn
Synonym Usage
See acknowledge.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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admitternoun
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readmitverb
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preadmitverb (used with object)
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admittableadjective
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admittibleadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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admitsimple
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admitssimple
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have admittedperfect
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has admittedperfect
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am admittingprogressive
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are admittingprogressive
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is admittingprogressive
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have been admittingperfect progressive
-
has been admittingperfect progressive
Past
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admittedsimple
-
had admittedperfect
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was admittingprogressive
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were admittingprogressive
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had been admittingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of admit
First recorded in 1375–1425; from Latin admittere, from ad- ad- + mittere “to send, let go”; replacing late Middle English amitte, with a- a- 5 instead of ad-, from Middle French amettre, from Latin, as above
Explanation
When you admit something, you confess that it happened. It wasn't easy to admit that you'd broken the vase, but how else could you explain that your hand was glued to it? Besides meaning "confess," admit can also mean "let in," like a theater ticket that says "ADMIT ONE." If you admit that you have a bag of popcorn hidden in your backpack, you might not be admitted to the movie. A doorway admits you into a room, and if a room can hold up to 50 people, that room admits 50. You can even use admit for metaphorical entrances, like the way your wild style admits you into high fashion circles.
Vocabulary lists containing admit
Send a Message: Mit and Miss
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Because of Winn-Dixie
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Beowulf: A New Telling
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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:
"I admit that in the fight for democracy we have accomplished nothing, but I believe in sowing seeds and giving them a chance to grow," he told AFP in 2024.
From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026
They will admit to themselves that you are unusually sleazy and moneygrubbing—Bitcoin!
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
“No excuses at all, but I’m finally admitting that I need help. I’ve fought this for a long time on my own, and it’s time to admit that I can’t do it anymore,” she wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
"They said it was breach of duty and not gross neglect and it took a long time for the trust to admit that."
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
His contempt cut me more than I cared to admit.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
Knibbe admits he had no idea he was being pranked, although he’s not sure if he actually said out loud that he was the last one to need glasses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
Laaroussi admits that the mission's departure could create security gaps.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
Alaska admits that even she was skeptical of the show’s advance hype.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026
“The knock in the night has always been my calling,” this kind listener explains as she admits the exhausted woman with the rambling story to tell.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
One night, as I'm walking Gale back into town, he even admits, “It’d be better if he were easier to hate.”
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
As the Wall Street Journal reported this week in a midterms postmortem, Trump has privately admitted that Miller’s zeal for deportations had “gone too far.”
From Slate ● Nov. 6, 2026
Pérez has heard about recruiters traveling in July for lunches and dinners with admitted students to keep them engaged and ensure contact with the university.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Sir Tom Jones has told fans he feared his life was "over" after being admitted to hospital in the US with flu.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
“I’m worried that the parts of directing that I’m not good at are those parts you can’t learn,” he admitted.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026
On second thought, Mudd admitted, he realized it just now.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
Traditionally, former colonial powers have skirted the issue, expressing regret for the industrial-scale human trafficking but never apologizing for fear that admitting guilt will open the door to a wave of compensation claims.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
Mourinho has addressed speculation that Alexander-Arnold could leave Real Madrid in January, admitting that difficult selection decisions can be painful but insisting that the team's needs must come first.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
Anyone who insists they are too self-aware to be pulled into something that goes against their own interests is admitting that they don’t know themselves or humanity very well.
From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2026
The author laughs ruefully when accused of his own version of nostalgia, admitting that the version of the airport he’s created feels closer to our present-day reality.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
But, since Toby was admitting he needed their help, they were willing to give it.
From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
