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to take or receive (something offered); receive with approval or favor:
to accept a present; to accept a proposal.
to agree or consent to; accede to:
to accept a treaty; to accept an apology.
to respond or answer affirmatively to:
to accept an invitation.
to undertake the responsibility, duties, honors, etc., of:
to accept the office of president.
to receive or admit formally, as to a college or club.
to accommodate or reconcile oneself to:
to accept the situation.
to regard as true or sound; believe:
to accept a claim; to accept Catholicism.
to regard as normal, suitable, or usual.
to receive as to meaning; understand.
Commerce. to acknowledge, by signature, as calling for payment, and thus to agree to pay, as a draft.
(in a deliberative body) to receive as an adequate performance of the duty with which an officer or a committee has been charged; receive for further action:
The report of the committee was accepted.
to receive or contain (something attached, inserted, etc.):
This socket won’t accept a three-pronged plug.
to receive (a transplanted organ or tissue) without adverse reaction.
Compare (def 7).
to accept an invitation, gift, position, etc. (sometimes followed by of).
Contemporary Examples

The Conservatives would not accept such a suicidal reform, but Labour might well.
Britain’s Bloody Mess Andrew Roberts May 6, 2010

And, most importantly, they need to accept this inescapable reality: we need to talk.
We Need to Talk Hussein Ibish May 6, 2012

Rather than accept defeat, Koska started a PR campaign to shame the minister into reacting.
10 Inspiring Summit Stories Jacob Bernstein October 23, 2010

They want total domination in some cases…not just ‘accept them’ but to bow to them and their wants.
Why Are Conservatives So Freaked Out by Gays? Dean Obeidallah February 28, 2014

That’s something that no society in the world that is healthy, regardless of ideology, will accept.
Justin Trudeau Comments on the Boston Bombing David Frum April 18, 2013

Historical Examples

The Democrats would not accept this amendment, and the bill was never passed.
Robert Toombs Pleasant A. Stovall

accept them for a dowry; and allow me to claim one privilege in return.
Philothea Lydia Maria Child

But once he had made his bid for success, he had to accept its moral consequences.
The Ordeal of Mark Twain Van Wyck Brooks

Also, as a rule, he was weak enough to accept a gift when the stranger parted.
Way of the Lawless Max Brand

Shall we accept the antediluvian, or the diluvian stratification?
Omphalos Philip Henry Gosse

verb (mainly transitive)
to take or receive (something offered)
to give an affirmative reply to: to accept an invitation
to take on the responsibilities, duties, etc, of: he accepted office
to tolerate or accommodate oneself to
to consider as true or believe in (a philosophy, theory, etc): I cannot accept your argument
(may take a clause as object) to be willing to grant or believe: you must accept that he lied
to receive with approval or admit, as into a community, group, etc
(commerce) to agree to pay (a bill, draft, shipping document, etc), esp by signing
to receive as adequate, satisfactory, or valid
to receive, take, or hold (something applied, inserted, etc)
(archaic) (intransitive) sometimes foll by of. to take or receive an offer, invitation, etc
v.

late 14c., “to take what is offered,” from Old French accepter (14c.) or directly from Latin acceptare “take or receive willingly,” frequentative of accipere “receive,” from ad- “to” (see ad-) + capere “to take” (see capable). Related: Accepted; accepting.
library, networking
Berkeley Unix networking socket library routine to satisfy a connection request from a remote host. A specified socket on the local host (which must be capable of accepting the connection) is connected to the requesting socket on the remote host. The remote socket’s socket address is returned.
Unix manual pages: accept(2), connect(2).
(1994-11-08)