accessed

Accessed is the past tense and past participle form of the verb access. It means to gain entry to a place, or to retrieve, view, or use information or resources. The term is commonly used to describe actions such as opening a file, querying a database, or visiting a website. Etymology: Access derives from Old French accés and Latin accessus, from ad- “toward” and -cedere “to go, yield.”

In grammar, accessed appears in tenses formed with have or has (present perfect: The file has been accessed), and in passive constructions (The file was accessed by the analyst). It can also function as a participial adjective, as in “accessed data” to describe data that has been retrieved.

In computing and information management, accessed is often used to describe data operations, server activity, or usage statistics. For example, a record may be accessed multiple times, or a log may record when a resource was accessed and by whom. In scholarly work and journalism, access is often noted with a date, such as “Accessed 12 March 2024,” to indicate when online material was consulted.

See also: access, accessible, accessibility, access control.