Admit: to allow to enter.
There are so many definitions and so many variations of this word, it is probably best to begin with the etymology.
Admit comes from the Latin verb admitto, which also has many definitions.
Admitto means:
- to urge on
- to spur to a gallop
- to let in
- to receive
- to grant permission
- to permit
Admitto itself comes from the Latin preposition ad, meaning: to, toward, or next to, and the verb mitto, which means: to send, throw, or release.
With the etymology as a backdrop, we now know that to admit is, in a general sense, to allow. Keep that in mind as we look a the numerous English definitions for the word.
In English to admit is to:
- To allow to enter; to grant entrance into a place, or an office, or into the mind. For example: We admit a student into college. Or, We admit a serious thought to enter the mind. Well… some people do.
- To grant right of entrance; as, a ticket admits one into the theater.
- To allow; to receive as true. “We admit that the facts are true.”
- To permit, grant or allow.
- To confess. “I admit that I shot the sheriff. But, I did not shoot the deputy.”
- To grant the possibility. The problem of the Federal deficit admits of no solution. Hmmm. Perhaps that is not true. There is a solution. Stop spending. But, then again, no politician seems willing to admit that solution into his mind.
- To receive someone as a patient in the hospital. Neville Longbottom’s parents were admitted to the hospital after spending some time with Bellatrix Lestrange.
