admit

present singular third person admits · participle present admitting · participle past admitted · past admitted · first person past singular admitted · archaic present second person singular admittest · past second person singular admitted · archaic past second person singular admittedst · present singular third person admits · archaic present singular third person admitteth · past singular third person admitted · past plural admitted · past subjunctive admitted · participle present admitting · participle past admitted

1. transitiveTo allow to enter; to grant entrance (to), whether into a place, into the mind, or into consideration.

   They were admitted into his house.

   5 more examples

   to admit a serious thought into the mind

   to admit evidence in the trial of a cause

   A ticket admits one into a playhouse.

   Her eyes are homes of silent prayer, ⁠Nor other thought her mind admits ⁠But, he was dead, and there he sits, And he that brought him back is there.

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 51

   By Saad’s accounting – and this is not dissimilar from the white nationalist “great replacement theory” – western societies are bringing about their own destruction by admitting immigrants from poorer, browner and more Muslim countries.

   2025 April 8, Julia Carrie Wong, “Loathe thy neighbor: Elon Musk and the Christian right are waging war on empathy”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 30 Apr 2025

2. transitiveTo allow (someone) to enter a profession or to enjoy a privilege; to recognize as qualified for a franchise.

   The prisoner was admitted to bail.

   1 more example

   to admit an attorney to practice law

   Synonyms: inlet, let in

3. intransitivetransitiveTo concede as true; to acknowledge or assent to, as an allegation which it is impossible to deny (+ to).

   He admitted his guilt.

   5 more examples

   the argument or fact is admitted

   She admitted taking drugs / she admitted to taking drugs.

   She was trapped into admitting the truth.

   However, a Carlisle newspaper got hold of the story, and at the half-yearly meeting of the Caledonian Railway Company, held on March 17, 1863, a shareholder, Mr. Meiklem, questioned the Chairman, Lt.-Col. Salkeld, regarding a "Chase of Engines," described in the newspaper article. The Chairman admitted that the statements made in the article were perfectly true.

   1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, pages 54–55

   His sister, Patti, also admitted taking drugs, […]

   2011, Kitty Kelley, Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography, →ISBN

   Synonyms: own up, confess, allow, acknowledge, own, grant

4. transitiveTo be capable of; to permit. In this sense, "of" may be used after the verb, or may be omitted.

   The words do not admit such a construction.

   3 more examples

   Four bells admit twenty-four changes in ringing.

   1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech

   There is no tree admits of transplantation so well as the Elm, for a tree of twenty years growth will admit of a remove.

   1761, John Mordant, The Complete Steward

   I received a phone call last Wednesday telling me Carl Wittman had died. We had heard that he had been diagnosed several weeks before as having AIDS, but that his prognosis admitted a possible 18 more months.

   1986 February 15, Michael Bronski, “Carl Wittman: An Activist's Life”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 31, page 7

5. intransitivewith ofTo give warrant or allowance, to grant opportunity or permission.

   Circumstances do not admit of this.

   1 more example

   The text does not admit of this interpretation.

6. transitiveTo allow to enter a hospital or similar facility for treatment.

   1 more example

   "This shocking report proves once again that we urgently need a radical shake-up of hospital care," said Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society. "Given that people with dementia occupy a quarter of hospital beds and that many leave in worse health than when they were admitted, it is unacceptable that training in dementia care is not the norm."

   2011 December 16, Denis Campbell, “Hospital staff 'lack skills to cope with dementia patients'”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 01 Mar 2020