admit
Americanverb (used with object)
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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.
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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)
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to permit entrance; give access.
This door admits to the garden.
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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)
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(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
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to allow (of); leave room (for)
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(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
-
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
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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:
Mkhwanazi, who has since been suspended, denied the allegations but did admit to receiving money from Matlala, describing him as a "blood brother" during his appearance at the Madlanga Commission.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Einstein said the school’s aim in expanding application numbers is simply to increase enrollment, not lower its admit rate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
I’ll admit it: half my pantry is made up of those one-time ingredients.
From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2026
Thomas’ dissent is, in many respects, more emotionally complex than either his admirers or his critics, like me, were at first blush ready to admit.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026
But when I let myself remember everything, I have to admit that this person has always been there too.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
Stepping into the spotlight required Wolfhard, who admits he shies away from conflict, to own both the pressure and the power of being the one audiences came to hear.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
"How we host tacit knowledge is largely a mystery," Denning admits.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
Abbie admits she has "mixed views" on the tests, with her concerns including a current lack of understanding of endometriosis in order to identify it the first place.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
This realistic outcome is impossible for Mr. Putin, Mr. Melnichenko more or less admits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
“It’s been a dark couple of days,” she admits softly.
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
It comes after the party's former chief executive Peter Murrell was jailed for more than five years after he admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the party over five years.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
The work ahead represents a major policy review that could change the way tens of thousands of students are admitted to the nation’s premier public university system.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
“I don’t want to keep talking about it,” Meyers admitted during Monday’s “A Closer Look” segment, “but as the host of a late-night comedy show, I am contractually obligated!”
From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2026
But the OCC admitted nothing in that case, and no judge ever ruled on the constitutional theory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
But he admitted that events in Belgium had “aroused almost the entire world against Germany.”
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
Even the non-thriller themes — female friendship, aging, ageism, admitting the truth about oneself to oneself and one’s dearest, the invigorating effects of danger — are explicitly expressed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Companies like UnitedHealth, Boeing, Verizon and General Electric, without admitting wrongdoing, chose to settle suits for tens of millions.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
“Sending someone a Slack message admitting ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’ is harder than leaning over at lunch,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
Williams, 54, from Mynydd Isa, Flintshire, was jailed for two years last December after admitting one count of theft and three of fraud by false representation.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
The whole day could have been a blackout dream I spun for myself because admitting that I spent the whole day in bed is pathetic.
From "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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.
