accessible, a.
(ækˈsɛsɪb(ə)l)
[a. Fr. accessible (in Cotgr.), ad. L. accēssibil-em, vbl. adj. f. accēss- ppl. stem of accēd-ĕre; see accede v. and -ble.]
1. Capable of being used as an access; affording entrance; open, practicable. Const. to.
| 1610 Shakes. Cymb. iii. ii. 84 Accessible is none but Milford way. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 546 With one ascent Accessible from Earth. 1835 J. Harris Gt. Teacher (1837) 347 All the paths of human ambition were open and accessible to him. |
2. a. Capable of being entered or reached; easy of access; such as one can go to, come into the presence of, reach, or lay hold of; get-at-able. Const. to.
| 1642 Howell For. Trav. 45 She [Spain] hath bold accessible coasts. 1670 G. H., Hist. Cardinals ii. ii. 149 He is accessible enough, but not too liberal to the poor. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & Fall I. xix. 537 The town was accessible only by two wooden bridges. 1850 Merivale Hist. Rom. Emp. (1871) V. xli. 89 The ear of the public was accessible perhaps by no other means. 1855 Prescott Philip II, I. i. iv. 52 He was..as accessible as any one could desire, and gave patient audience to all who asked it. 1861 May Const. Hist. Eng. (1863) I. i. 44 Evidence, not accessible to contemporaries, has since made his statement indisputable. |
b. fig. Accessible to: open to the influence of.
| 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. 185 He had shewn himself in a certain degree accessible to touches of humanity. 1881 Rep. of Elect. Comm. in Daily Tel. 31 Jan. 500 or 600 [voters] are at all times accessible to bribery. |
c. Able to be (readily) understood or appreciated. Freq. applied to academic or creative work.
| 1961 Athene Autumn 6/2 Serious art is not easily accessible to the untutored. 1968 Listener 29 Feb. 280/2 Shostakovich's music since 1938..being a good deal more emotionally accessible than his early work. 1980 Amer. Speech LV. 37 All three terms are semantically accessible and productive in the speech of the areas where they occur. 1984 N.Y. Times 8 July x. 9/1 At the Science Center almost every exhibit demands action and the sometimes-forbidding world of science becomes accessible. |
Hence acˈcessibly adv.
| 1889 in Cent. Dict. 1909 in Webster. 1978 Nature 27 Apr. 776/1 Those familiar with eighteenth-century Scottish verse or, more accessibly, with the Oxford English Dictionary, will know that a tappit hen can be either a chicken with a crest on its head or a jug. 1984 Financial Times 12 June iv. p. xiii, The council has 30 offices scattered accessibly throughout the shires. |
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▸ orig. U.S. Capable of being conveniently used or accessed by people with disabilities; of or designating goods, services, or facilities designed to meet the needs of the disabled.
| 1970 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 70 43/1 Symbol for identifying accessible buildings and facilities. 1991 House Beautiful Kitchens/Baths Winter 20/1 Accessible design meets everyone's needs—those who use a wheelchair or have limited sight. 1998 Disability Now Nov. 40/3 [They] booked an accessible holiday in Spain. 2008 N.Y. Times Mag. 6 Jan. 43/1 At the behest of groups representing the disabled, HAVA required each poll station to have at least one ‘accessible’ machine. |