access

Meanings

1. The right or the chance to enter a place, use something or get information.
2. A way of reaching or entering a place.

Example sentences

• "Employees need a special card to get access to the server room."

  Level A2, Meaning 1

• "The library gives students free access to hundreds of books."

  Level A1, Meaning 1

• "The path has easy access for wheelchairs."

  Level A2, Meaning 2

• "Do you have access to a printer at home?"

  Level A1, Meaning 1

Synonyms and antonyms

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• excess : Excess means too much of something. Access means a way in. They are spelled and said almost alike, so check the first letters.
• entrance : An entrance is the door or gate itself. Access is the right or the means to get in.

Word family and forms

Forms: accesses

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "access".

• access to
• free access
• easy access
• gain access
• access the internet
• wheelchair access

Origin

Access came into English in the 1300s from Old French acces, which meant an attack, and from its Latin source accessus, an approach. Latin accedere, to go toward, is built from ad, meaning to, and cedere, to move or yield, so access began as a coming near.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Dictionary.com.

How to remember it

Access has the same start as accept and accident: ac plus cess, the way to go toward something.

Test yourself

Learn next at A1

• accident An unexpected event, often unpleasant, that happens without being plan...
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• across From one side of something to the other.
• act To do something, or to perform a role in a play or film.
• action Something that is done, or the process of doing something.
• active Full of energy, and involved in doing things regularly.