accomplish

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English[edit]

Part or all of this entry 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 The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for accomplish in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English accomplisshen, acomplissen, from Old French acompliss-, extended stem of acomplir (Modern French accomplir),[1] from a- (“to”) (from Latin ad) + complir (or possibly through a Vulgar Latin root *accomplīre), from Vulgar Latin *complīre, from Latin complēre (“to fill up, fill out, complete”); see complete.

First attested in the late 14th century.

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (transitive) To finish successfully.
  2. (transitive) To complete, as time or distance.
    • 1611, King James Version, Daniel 9:2
      That He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
    • (Can we date this quote by William H. Prescott and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      He had accomplished half a league or more.
  3. (transitive) To execute fully; to fulfill; to complete successfully.
    to accomplish a design, an object, a promise
  4. (transitive, archaic) To equip or furnish thoroughly; hence, to complete in acquirements; to render accomplished; to polish.
    • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:
      The armorers accomplishing the knights
    • (Can we date this quote by John Wilkins and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      It [the moon] is fully accomplished for all those ends to which Providence did appoint it.
    • (Can we date this quote by Charles Cowden Clarke and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      These qualities . . . go to accomplish a perfect woman.
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To gain; to obtain.
  6. (transitive, Philippine English) to fill out a form

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

References[edit]

  1. ^ “accomplisshen, v.” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2018, retrieved 20 October 2019.

Further reading[edit]

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