Standard Lemma guide

accommodate

adj · verb · 19 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Canada, Received-Pronunciation, dialectal: /əˈkɒməˌdeɪt/ of the US
  • Canada, Received-Pronunciation, dialectal: [əˈkhɒməˌdeɪt] of the US
  • General-American, dialectal: /əˈkɑməˌdeɪt/ of Canada
  • General-American, dialectal: [əˈkhɑməˌdeɪt] of Canada
  • California: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian: /əˈkɔməˌdæɪt/
  • Australian: [əˈkhɔməˌdæɪt]
  • New-Zealand: /əˈkɒməˌdæɪt/
  • New-Zealand: [əˈkhɔ̟məˌdæɪt]
  • CMU ARPABET: AH0 K AA1 M AH0 D EY2 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Suitable; fit; adapted; as, means accommodate to end.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To render fit, suitable, or correspondent; to adapt.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: often, reflexive, transitive

Examples

  • to accommodate ourselves to circumstances

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: adapt, conform, adjust, arrange, suit

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To cause to come to agreement; to bring about harmony; to reconcile.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • to accommodate differences

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: reconcile

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To provide housing for.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • to accommodate an old friend for a week

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: quarter

Antonyms: none provided

5

verb

Meaning 5

To provide sufficient space for.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

verb

Meaning 6

To contain comfortably; to have space for.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • This venue accommodates three hundred people.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

verb

Meaning 7

To provide with something desired, needed, or convenient.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • to accommodate a friend with a loan

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

verb

Meaning 8

To do a favor or service for; to oblige.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: oblige

Antonyms: none provided

9

verb

Meaning 9

To show the correspondence of; to apply or make suit by analogy; to adapt or fit, as teachings to accidental circumstances, statements to facts, etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • to accommodate prophecy to events

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

verb

Meaning 10

To give consideration to; to allow for.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

verb

Meaning 11

To adapt oneself; to be conformable or adapted; become adjusted.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive, rare

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

12

verb

Meaning 12

Of an eye, to change focal length in order to focus at a different distance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

Topics: medicine, ophthalmology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

13

verb

Meaning 13

make fit for, or change to suit a new purpose

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Adapt our native cuisine to the available food resources of the new country

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: adapt

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: change, alter, vary

Narrower terms: adjust, gear, pitch, fit, anglicise, anglicize, shoehorn, tailor, orient, domesticate, tame, cultivate, naturalize, naturalise, Christianize, electrify, wire, transcribe

14

verb

Meaning 14

make (one thing) compatible with (another)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • The scientists had to accommodate the new results with the existing theories

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: reconcile, conciliate

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: harmonize, harmonise

15

verb

Meaning 15

provide a service or favor for someone

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • We had to oblige him

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: oblige

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: comply, follow, abide by

16

verb

Meaning 16

provide with something desired or needed

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Can you accommodate me with a rental car?

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: provide, supply, ply, cater

17

verb

Meaning 17

provide housing for

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • We are lodging three foreign students this semester

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: lodge

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: house, put up, domiciliate

Narrower terms: barrack, keep, quarter, billet, canton

18

verb

Meaning 18

be agreeable or acceptable to

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • This suits my needs

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: suit, fit

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: meet, fit, conform to

19

verb

Meaning 19

have room for; hold without crowding

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • This hotel can accommodate 250 guests
  • The theater admits 300 people
  • The auditorium can't hold more than 500 people

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hold, admit

Antonyms: none provided

Narrower terms: sleep, house, seat

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h2éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin com- Proto-Indo-European *med- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Italic *medos Latin modus Latin commodusnom. Latin commodum 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 commodō Latin accommodō Latin accommodātusbor. English accommodate First use appears c. the 1530s, borrowed from Latin accommodātus, perfect passive participle of accommodō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + commodō (“to provide, lend; to make fit, accommodate”), from con- + modus (“measure, proportion, limit”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix) (see English mode).

Across languages

Translations

93 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: нагаждам (nagaždam) — to render fit or suitable
  • Catalan: acomodar — to render fit or suitable
  • Chinese Mandarin: 容纳 (róng nà) — to render fit or suitable
  • Esperanto: akomodi — to render fit or suitable
  • Esperanto: alfari — to render fit or suitable
  • Finnish: sopeuttaa — to render fit or suitable
  • Galician: acomodar — to render fit or suitable
  • German: machen — to render fit or suitable
  • German: endigen — to render fit or suitable
  • Ido: aptigar — to render fit or suitable
  • Italian: adattare — to render fit or suitable
  • Latin: accommodo — to render fit or suitable
  • Polish: akomodować — to render fit or suitable
  • Portuguese: acomodar — to render fit or suitable
  • Russian: приспоса́бливать (prisposáblivatʹ) — to render fit or suitable
  • Russian: приспосо́бить (prisposóbitʹ) — to render fit or suitable
  • Russian: подгоня́ть (podgonjátʹ) — to render fit or suitable
  • Russian: подогна́ть (podognátʹ) — to render fit or suitable
  • Spanish: acomodar — to render fit or suitable
  • Turkish: uyum sağlamak — to render fit or suitable
  • Turkish: düzenlemek — to render fit or suitable
  • Finnish: sovitella — to cause to come into agreement
  • German: in Übereinstimmung bringen — to cause to come into agreement
  • German: anpassen — to cause to come into agreement
  • Italian: conciliare — to cause to come into agreement
  • Latin: excipio — to cause to come into agreement
  • Catalan: acollir — to provide housing for
  • Catalan: allotjar — to provide housing for
  • Chinese Mandarin: 安置 (ānzhì) — to provide housing for
  • Chinese Mandarin: 容納 /容纳 (róngnà) — to provide housing for
  • Dutch: onderbrengen — to provide housing for
  • Dutch: herbergen — to provide housing for
  • Finnish: majoittaa — to provide housing for
  • French: héberger — to provide housing for
  • Galician: acomodar — to provide housing for
  • Galician: albergar — to provide housing for
  • Galician: acoller — to provide housing for
  • Galician: apousentar — to provide housing for
  • German: unterbringen — to provide housing for
  • German: beherbergen — to provide housing for
  • German: einquartieren — to provide housing for
  • Hebrew: אִכְסֵן (ichsén) — to provide housing for
  • Hungarian: befogad — to provide housing for
  • Ido: gastigar — to provide housing for
  • Italian: accomodare — to provide housing for
  • Italian: alloggiare — to provide housing for
  • Italian: ospitare — to provide housing for
  • Japanese: 収容する (shūyō suru) — to provide housing for
  • Korean: 수용하다 (suyonghada) — to provide housing for
  • Middle English: herberwen — to provide housing for
  • Middle English: housen — to provide housing for
  • Polish: nocować — to provide housing for
  • Polish: przenocować — to provide housing for
  • Portuguese: acomodar — to provide housing for
  • Russian: размеща́ть (razmeščátʹ) — to provide housing for
  • Russian: размести́ть (razmestítʹ) — to provide housing for
  • Serbo-Croatian: смје́штати — to provide housing for
  • Serbo-Croatian: smjéštati — to provide housing for
  • Spanish: acoger — to provide housing for
  • Spanish: albergar — to provide housing for
  • Swedish: hysa — to provide housing for
  • Italian: sistemare — to provide space for something
  • Māori: ō — to provide space for something
  • Serbo-Croatian: при́мати — to contain comfortably; have space for
  • Serbo-Croatian: prímati — to contain comfortably; have space for
  • Finnish: tarjota — to provide with something desired
  • German: einrichten — to provide with something desired
  • Italian: soddisfare — to provide with something desired
  • Latin: excipio — to provide with something desired
  • Serbo-Croatian: осигура́вати — to provide with something desired
  • Serbo-Croatian: osigurávati — to provide with something desired
  • Swedish: förse — to provide with something desired
  • Swedish: tillgodose — to provide with something desired
  • Turkish: düzenlemek — to provide with something desired
  • Turkish: tanzim etmek — to provide with something desired
  • Turkish: yerleştirmek — to provide with something desired
  • Dutch: aanpassen — to show the correspondence of; adapt to fit
  • Dutch: accommoderen — to show the correspondence of; adapt to fit
  • Finnish: sopeutua — to show the correspondence of; adapt to fit
  • French: accommoder — to show the correspondence of; adapt to fit
  • German: anpassen — to show the correspondence of; adapt to fit
  • Latin: excipio — to show the correspondence of; adapt to fit
  • Spanish: acomodar — to show the correspondence of; adapt to fit
  • Turkish: uydurmak — to show the correspondence of; adapt to fit
  • Finnish: sopeutua — rare: to adapt oneself
  • French: s'accommoder — rare: to adapt oneself
  • German: anpassen — rare: to adapt oneself
  • Latin: excipio — rare: to adapt oneself
  • Polish: akomodować się — rare: to adapt oneself
  • Russian: приспоса́бливаться (prisposáblivatʹsja) — rare: to adapt oneself
  • Russian: приспосо́биться (prisposóbitʹsja) — rare: to adapt oneself
  • Spanish: acomodarse a — rare: to adapt oneself
  • Turkish: alışmak — rare: to adapt oneself
Real reading context

accommodate in complete knowledge articles