admit

verb ad·mit \ əd-ˈmit , ad- \

|Updated on: 9 Aug 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: admit in a Sentence

Definition of admit

admitted; admitting

transitive verb

1 a : to allow scope for : permit

admits no possibility of misunderstanding

b : to concede as true or valid

admitted making a mistake

2 a : to allow entry (as to a place, fellowship, or privilege)

an open window had admitted rain

admitted to the club

b : to accept into a hospital as an inpatient

he was admitted last night for chest pains

intransitive verb

1 : to give entrance or access

2 a : allow, permit

admits of two interpretations

b : to make acknowledgment —used with to

admitted to having doubts

See admit defined for English-language learners

See admit defined for kids

Examples of admit in a Sentence

You know you're wrong! Admit it!
I hate to admit it, but he's right.
This ticket admits one person.
He admitted them into his office.
They refused to admit her to the club.
The patient was very sick when she was admitted to the hospital.
He was admitted last night for chest pains.
The judge decided to admit the evidence.

Recent Examples of admit from the Web

Schnatter, the company's founder and CEO, admitted to using a racial slur during a May conference call.

— chandler rome, Houston Chronicle, "Astros denounce Papa John's founder in statement," 13 July 2018
Things kind of snowballed after that, Emily admits.

— sarah weinberg, House Beautiful, "It's Always Happy Hour At Emily Henderson's," 12 July 2018
Overall, the school admitted 32,179 for next year, a 4 percent increase from a year ago.

— claire morgan, sacbee, "UC Davis admits fewer transfer students but more Californians overall, school says," 11 July 2018
These are all relatable activities celebrities sometimes admit to, when the cameras are off and the coast is clear.

— refinery29.com, "Hailey Baldwin's Beauty Evolution, From Teen Belieber To Actual Fiancée Of Bieber," 10 July 2018
Fanny Lorenzo, a legal resident of the United States, committed a crime 20 years ago, admitting to her role in her husband’s marijuana growing operation and cooperating with prosecutors.

— dan sweeney, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Deport immigrants who commit crimes, readers say, regardless of legal status or how old the crime is," 10 July 2018
Chafetz and Levine, who stepped away from OnBoard around 2004, say their employees weren't involved in bullying, and neither company admitted to breaking the law or committing any wrongdoing while working with the state.

— david smiley, joey flechas and danny rivero, miamiherald, "Hustle and Flow: How Philip Levine made the money that’s financing his bid for governor," 10 July 2018
Officers spoke with their parents, and the youths admitted to the vandalism.

— emily sweeney, BostonGlobe.com, "In Wareham, a case of SUV-dipping," 6 July 2018
Surveys carried out over 20 years by Pan Suiming and fellow researchers at Renmin University in Beijing found that the proportion of Chinese men who admit to having hired a prostitute doubled to around one in seven in the decade to 2015.

— The Economist, "In China, sex work is being pushed back into the shadows," 5 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'admit.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of admit

Middle English admitten, borrowed from Anglo-French admitter, admetter, admettre, borrowed from Latin admittere "to allow entrance or approach," from ad- ad- + mittere "to release, let go, discharge, let fly, throw down, send (for a purpose)," perhaps going back to Indo-European *mei̯th₂- "alternate, exchange, remove" (assuming sense shift "exchange" > "give, bestow" > "let go, send"), from whence, with varying ablaut grades, Sanskrit méthati "treats hostilely, abuses," mitháḥ "mutually, alternately," míthū "in opposed directions, wrongly," Avestan mōiθat̰ "will deprive," hǝ̄m.aibī.mōist "(s/he) joins," West Germanic *meiþ-a- "conceal, avoid" (presumably "remove" > "remove oneself"), whence Old English mīðan "to conceal, dissemble," Old Saxon miđan, Old High German mīdan "to avoid, shy away from, conceal"

Note: See also forms at etymology of mutable descending from a causative derivative *moi̯th2-. The short vowel and geminate consonant in mittere is usually explained as an instance of the "littera-rule" (or "Iuppiter-rule"), whereby certain pre-Latin diphthongs are resolved as either long vowel + single consonant or short vowel + geminate consonant; however, in most such cases examples of both alternates are attested, though in this instance no attestation of mīt- is known.

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

See Words from the same year

admit Synonyms

Phrases

come clean (about);

Synonym Discussion of admit

acknowledge, admit, own, avow, confess mean to disclose against one's will or inclination. acknowledge implies the disclosing of something that has been or might be concealed.

- acknowledged an earlier peccadillo

admit implies reluctance to disclose, grant, or concede and refers usually to facts rather than their implications.

- admitted the project was over budget

own implies acknowledging something in close relation to oneself.

- must own I know little about computers

avow implies boldly declaring, often in the face of hostility, what one might be expected to be silent about.

- avowed that he was a revolutionary

confess may apply to an admission of a weakness, failure, omission, or guilt.

- confessed a weakness for sweets

admit

noun

Definition of admit

: a person who is admitted into a school, hospital, etc.

When a patient is transferred, the nurse will take the next new admit—unless her patient is transferred to a hospital for only a temporary stay.
—Sally Seaver

Recent Examples of admit from the Web

Twenty Insiders will win an admit-two pass to an advance screening on Tuesday July 17th, 7:30pm (ARV: $28 per prize).

— Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Advance Screening: MAMMA MIA!," 27 June 2018
Earlier this month, Trump proposed that the G-7 group of industrial nations re-admit Russia as a member, a suggestion that drew rebukes from some U.S. allies.

— david m. jackson, USA TODAY, "White House, Kremlin officials lay plans for Trump-Putin summit as John Bolton heads to Moscow," 21 June 2018
Twenty Insiders will win an admit-two pass to an advance screening on Tuesday, June 19th, 7:30 p.m. at AMC Mayfair Mall 18 (ARV: $28 per prize).

— Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Advance Screening: JURASSIC WORLD," 7 June 2018
Twenty-five Insiders will win an admit-two pass to an advance screening on Tuesday, June 12th, 7:30 p.m. at AMC Mayfair Mall (ARV: $28 per prize).

— Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Attend an Advance Screening of TAG," 30 May 2018
In 2016, the percentage of UT-Austin enrolled students who are Hispanic, for example, was much higher among automatic admits than for the students accepted outside that state law.

— lindsay ellis, San Antonio Express-News, "UT-Austin keeps a large share of Texans," 4 Apr. 2018
Insiders will receive an admit two pass to an advance screening on Tuesday, November 14, 7:30 p.m. at AMC Mayfair Mall 18.

— Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Advance Screening of Justice League," 2 Nov. 2017
Members will win an admit two pass to an advance screening at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 24th at Cinemark Preston Crossings.

— The Courier-Journal, "Thank You For Your Service Advance Screening," 17 Oct. 2017
Still ahead, President Trump and Prime Minister Abe wrap up a two-day summit in Mar-a-Lago admit simmering trade tensions and in the shadow of the U.S./North Korea sit-down.

— Fox News, "What are President Trump's next steps on North Korea?," 22 Apr. 2018