accomplish

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[edit] English

Part or all of this page has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.

[edit] Etymology

Old English acomplissen < Old French accomplir (French accomplir) < Latin ad + complere (“‘to fill up, to complete’”). See also complete, finish.

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Verb

Infinitive
to accomplish

Third person singular
accomplishes

Simple past
accomplished

Past participle
accomplished

Present participle
accomplishing

to accomplish (third-person singular simple present accomplishes, present participle accomplishing, simple past and past participle accomplished)

  1. To finish successfully.
  2. To complete, as time or distance.
    • That He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. - Daniel 9:2
    • He had accomplished half a league or more. - William H. Prescott
  3. To bring to an issue of full success; to effect; to perform; to execute fully; to fulfill; as, to accomplish a design, an object, a promise.
    • This that is written must yet be accomplished in me - Luke 22:37
  4. To equip or furnish thoroughly; hence, to complete in acquirements; to render accomplished; to polish.
    • The armorers accomplishing the knights - Shakespeare, Henry V, IV-chorus
    • It [the moon] is fully accomplished for all those ends to which Providence did appoint it. - John Wilkins
    • These qualities . . . go to accomplish a perfect woman. - Charles Cowden Clarke
  5. (obsolete) To gain; to obtain. - Shakespeare

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Usage notes

  • A comparison of to accomplish, effect, execute, achieve, perform: These words agree in the general idea of carrying out to some end proposed.
  • To accomplish (to fill up to the measure of the intention) generally implies perseverance and skill; as, to accomplish a plan proposed by one's self, an object, a design, an undertaking
    Thou shalt accomplish my desire. - 1 Kings 5:9
    He . . . expressed his desire to see a union accomplished between England and Scotland. - Thomas Babington Macaulay
  • To effect (to work out) is much like accomplish. It usually implies some degree of difficulty contended with; as, he effected or accomplished what he intended, his purpose, but little.
    • What he decreed, he effected. - John Milton
    • To work in close design by fraud or guile / What force effected not. - John Milton
  • To execute (to follow out to the end, to carry out, or into effect) implies a set mode of operation; as, to execute the laws or the orders of another; to execute a work, a purpose, design, plan, project.
  • To perform is much like to do, though less generally applied. It conveys a notion of protracted and methodical effort; as, to perform a mission, a part, a task, a work.
    • Thou canst best perform that office. - John Milton
    • The Saints, like stars, around his seat / Perform their courses still. - John Keble
  • To achieve (to come to the end or arrive at one's purpose) usually implies some enterprise or undertaking of importance, difficulty, and excellence

[edit] Translations

to finish successfully
to complete, as time or distance
to bring to an issue of full success; to effect; to perform
to equip or furnish thoroughly
(obsolete) to gain; to obtain
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[edit] External links

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