Admitted

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ədˈmɪtɪd/

Definitions

1. Acknowledged something to be true or valid ; granted permission or entry to a place or institution ; accepted someone as a member of a group or organization
2. Confessed or recognized the truth of a statement or charge ; allowed or permitted entrance into a location or facility ; admitted someone into membership or participation in an activity
3. Conceded the validity or truth of a fact ; authorized access for a person into an area or institution ; included a person as part of a group or event

Etymology: "Admitted" is the past tense and past participle of "admit," and the verb's core idea is sending something toward a place. Its Latin ancestor, "admittere," combined "ad-" (to, toward) with "mittere" (to send), so it meant to let in or allow entrance, as in opening a door to someone. Middle English took the word in as "admitten," borrowed through Old French "admettre," and the sense of letting someone in carried over naturally into the other meanings we use today. Those later meanings grew out of that doorway image. Letting someone into a building or institution became letting an idea or fact in, which is how "admit" came to mean acknowledging that something is true. Once a person has been allowed through the gate, they are also counted as part of the group, which explains the third sense of including someone in a club, event, or company. The word's shifts all trace back to that single notion of admission at a threshold.

Synonyms: acknowledged, accepted, confessed, recognized, granted

Antonyms: denied, refused, rejected, disallowed, disavowed