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Access

//ˈæksɛs// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A way or means of approaching or entering; an entrance; a passage. uncountable

    "The door provides access to the premises."

  2. 2
    the act of approaching or entering wordnet
  3. 3
    The act of approaching or entering; an advance. uncountable

    "They gained access to the basement from the stairs."

  4. 4
    a way of entering or leaving wordnet
  5. 5
    The right or ability of approaching or entering; admittance; admission; accessibility. uncountable

    "Staff prevent unauthorized access to the building."

Show 13 more definitions
  1. 6
    (computer science) the operation of reading or writing stored information wordnet
  2. 7
    The quality of being easy to approach or enter. uncountable

    "ease of access"

  3. 8
    the right to obtain or make use of or take advantage of something (as services or membership) wordnet
  4. 9
    Admission to sexual intercourse. uncountable

    "During coverture, access of the husband shall be presumed, unless the contrary be shown."

  5. 10
    the right to enter wordnet
  6. 11
    An increase by addition; accession archaic, countable

    "an access of territory"

  7. 12
    a code (a series of characters or digits) that must be entered in some way (typed or dialed or spoken) to get the use of something (a telephone line or a computer or a local area network etc.) wordnet
  8. 13
    An onset, attack, or fit of disease; an ague fit. countable

    "The first access looked like an apoplexy."

  9. 14
    An outburst of an emotion; a paroxysm; a fit of passion. countable

    "The Magpie's flashlight, as he shifted it from his right hand to his left and wrenched out his revolver, had fallen upon two men crouched close against the wall by the library door—and he screamed out in an access of fury. "De double cross! A plant! De bulls! You damned snitch, Larry!" screamed out the Magpie—and fired."

  10. 15
    The right of a noncustodial parent to visit their child. uncountable
  11. 16
    The process of locating data in memory. countable

    "Operations on C++ volatiles do put the compiler on notice that the object may be modified asynchronously, and hence are generally safer to use than ordinary variable accesses."

  12. 17
    Connection to or communication with a computer program or to the Internet. uncountable
  13. 18
    Complicity or assent. Scotland, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To gain or obtain access to. transitive

    "The value of having in-house medical expertise is that staff with poor attendance records who have difficulty accessing NHS services can receive support from their employer, to help reduce absenteeism brought about by medical conditions."

  2. 2
    reach or gain access to wordnet
  3. 3
    To have access to (data). transitive

    "I can't access most of the data on the computer without a password."

  4. 4
    obtain or retrieve from a storage device; as of information on a computer wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English accesse, acces, borrowed from Middle French acces (“attack, onslaught”) or from its source Latin accessus, perfect passive participle of accēdō (“approach; accede”), from ad (“to, toward, at”) + cēdō (“move, yield”). Doublet of accessus. First attested in the early 14th century. The sense "entrance" was first attested about 1380.

Etymology 2

First attested in 1962.

See also for "access"

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