Dictionary

unaccept en · VERB

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂éntsder. Proto-Germanic *anda- Proto-West Germanic *anda- Old English and- Old English on- Middle English on- English un- Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- substratebor.? Proto-Indo-European *kap- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti Proto-Italic *kapjō Archaic Latin kapiō Latin capiō Latin accipiō Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tos Latin -tus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin -tō Latin acceptārelbor. Old French accepterder.? Middle English accepten English accept English unaccept From un- + accept.

Meanings

1. (transitive, uncommon) To rescind one's acceptance of.
   • The rest of the world hasn't accepted his argument, but also the rest of the world has never been able to unaccept it, so it is fairly safe to say that it is the world's greatest argument, whether it is valid or not. 1996, Albert Lamphier Hammond, Theory of knowledge: a direct realist approach, page 255:
   • In line with Gilbert's writings (1993; Gilbert, Krull, & Malone, 1990), if students lack the motivation or mental ability to "unaccept" the information they have encoded in order to pass my exams, they cannot escape believing it. 2008, Michael F. Shaughnessy, Meta-cognition: A Recent Review of Research, Theory, and Perspectives:
   • I got this offer in California about an hour after I accepted Rosenfeld's job, so I called him right back. I was calling him about two or three hours after I'd accepted the job — to unaccept it. He was absolutely outraged. 2000, James A. Anderson, Edward Rosenfeld, Talking Nets: An Oral History of Neural Networks, page 369:
   • Of course, they were free to unaccept that idea, but unacceptance was a secondary, deliberate revision of an initially accepted belief. 1998, Michael Raymond DePaul, William M. Ramsey, Rethinking intuition: the psychology of intuition, page 49:
   • Mr. Hurst interrupted, 'to have his name mixed up with shady people, as Ormond says; so, my dear! the long and short of it is, you must refuse her invitation to go there on this visit!' 'But I have accepted it.' 'Unaccept it then,' jocosely. 1880, Mrs. Harry Bennett-Edwards, In Sheep's Clothing, volume 2, page 154:
   • According to Spinoza's view, comprehension automatically entails acceptance, and only afterward is the mind able to proceed to unaccept the statement. 1993, Sik Hung Ng, James J. Bradac, Power in language: verbal communication and social influence:
   • Her department had to decide which of the students would be “unaccepted.” Dr. Roth, chair of graduate education, was chosen to explain those decisions to them. 2025 March 6, Stephanie Saul, “As Trump Goes After Universities, Students Are Now on the Chopping Block”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Forms

Hypernyms

reject

Relateds

uninvite · unacceptability · unacceptable · unaccepted