Acceptations

Acceptations refers to the meanings or senses of a word or expression. In lexicography and linguistics, an acceptation is a distinct sense listed for a polysemous term. The plural acceptations is used when describing more than one sense within a dictionary entry or semantic analysis. In modern English, the term is largely archaic or specialized; speakers and writers typically use sense, meaning, or definition instead of acceptation.

Etymology and scope: Acceptation comes from Old French acceptation and Latin acceptatio, encompassing the idea of taking or receiving a sense or interpretation. In historical dictionaries, terms were often analyzed by enumerating their acceptations rather than simply giving a single definition. This approach helps distinguish how a word shifts meaning across different contexts.

Usage and examples: For example, the word bank has multiple acceptations: one referring to a financial institution and another to the side of a river. Such distinctions are common in lexical work, where each acceptation corresponds to a different semantic sense. Some texts also discuss related terms such as acception, a variant found in older usage.

Contemporary status: Today, acceptation is mostly encountered in scholarly, historical, or lexicographic writing. General writing favors sense, meaning, or definition. In studies of language, the concept of acceptations helps systems analyze polysemy and the evolution of word meanings over time. See also semantics, polysemy, lexicography, dictionary.