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Accommodate vs Allow - What's the difference?

accommodate | allow |

In transitive terms the difference between accommodate and allow

is that accommodate is to contain comfortably; to have space for while allow is to render physically possible.

In obsolete terms the difference between accommodate and allow

is that accommodate is suitable; fit; adapted; as, means accommodate to end while allow is to sanction; to invest; to entrust.

As an adjective accommodate

is suitable; fit; adapted; as, means accommodate to end.

accommodate

English

Verb

(accommodat)
  • (transitive, often, reflexive) To render fit, suitable, or correspondent; to adapt; to conform; as, to accommodate ourselves to circumstances.
  • They accommodate their counsels to his inclination. -
  • To bring into agreement or harmony; to reconcile; to compose; to adjust; to settle; as, to accommodate differences, a dispute, etc.
  • To provide housing for; to furnish with something desired, needed, or convenient; as, to accommodate a friend with a loan or with lodgings.
  • To do a favor or service for; to oblige;
  • 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.; as, to accommodate prophecy to events.
  • To give consideration to; to allow for.
  • To contain comfortably; to have space for.
  • (rare) To adapt one's self; to be conformable or adapted; become adjusted.
  • Synonyms

    * suit; adapt; conform; adjust; arrange.

    Antonyms

    * (obsolete) discommodate

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (label) Suitable; fit; adapted; as, means accommodate to end.
  • * John Tillotson
  • God did not primarily intend to appoint this way of worship, and to impose it upon them as that which was most proper and agreeable to him; but that he condescended to it as most accommodate to their present state and inclination.

    allow

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To grant, give, admit, accord, afford, or yield; to let one have.
  • * 2004 , Constance Garnett (translator), Anton Chekhov (Russian author), “Ariadne”, in The Darling: and Other Stories :
  • he needed a great deal of money, but his uncle only allowed him two thousand roubles a year, which was not enough, and for days together he would run about Moscow with his tongue out, as the saying is.
  • To acknowledge; to accept as true; to concede; to accede to an opinion.
  • * 1855 , (William Makepeace Thackeray), (The Newcomes)
  • I allow , with Mrs. Grundy and most moralists, that Miss Newcome's conductwas highly reprehensible.
  • To grant (something) as a deduction or an addition; especially to abate or deduct.
  • To grant license to; to permit; to consent to.
  • *
  • With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get
  • To not bar or obstruct.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author=(Leo Hickman)
  • , volume=189, issue=7, page=26, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= How algorithms rule the world , passage=The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.}}
  • To acknowledge or concede.
  • * 2000 , (George RR Martin), A Storm of Swords , Bantam (2011), page 154:
  • Half the night passed before the wench allowed that it might be safe to stop.
  • To take into account by making an allowance.
  • When calculating a budget for a construction project, always allow for contingencies.
  • To render physically possible.
  • * 1824 , (Washington Irving), :
  • The inlet allowed a facility to bring the money in a boat secretly and at night to the very foot of the hill.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) , title= Ideas coming down the track , passage=A “moving platform” scheme
  • (obsolete) To praise; to approve of; hence, to sanction.
  • * Bible, Luke xi. 48
  • Ye allow the deeds of your fathers.
  • * Fuller
  • We commend his pains, condemn his pride, allow his life, approve his learning.
  • (obsolete) To sanction; to invest; to entrust.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Thou shalt be allowed with absolute power.
  • (obsolete) To like; to be suited or pleased with.
  • * Massinger
  • How allow you the model of these clothes?

    Synonyms

    * allot, assign, bestow, concede, admit, let, permit, suffer, tolerate

    Derived terms

    * allowance * allowable

    References

    *

    Statistics

    * English control verbs