accommodation meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

accommodation

noun

UK /əˌkɒm.əˈdeɪ.ʃən/ · CA, US /əˌkɑ.məˈdeɪ.ʃən/

Etymology From French accommodation, from Latin accommodātiō (“adjustment, accommodation, compliance”), from accommodō (“adapt, put in order”). Superficially accommodate + -ion. The sense of "lodging" was first attested in 1600.

14 senses

1Lodging in a dwelling or similar living quarters…
2The act of fitting or adapting, or the state of being…
3A convenience, a fitting, something satisfying a need.
4The adaptation or adjustment of an organism, organ, or part.
5The adjustment of the eye to a change of the distance…
6Willingness to accommodate; obligingness.
7Adjustment of differences; state of agreement…
8The application of a writer's language, on the ground of…
9A loan of money.
10An accommodation bill or note.
11An offer of substitute goods to fulfill a contract…
12An adaptation or method of interpretation which explains…
13The place where sediments can make, or have made, a…
14Modification(s) to make one's way of communicating…

Australia, UK Lodging in a dwelling or similar living quarters afforded to travellers in hotels or on cruise ships, or students, etc.

I have booked the accommodation for my trip to Paris.
So, it's settled. I'm going to Penzance. Hooray! I've even booked my accommodation.2009 July 18, Alice-Azania Jarvis, “Alice-Azania Jarvis: 'A taste for seafood could break my holiday budget'”, in The Independent:

2 more examples

Having returned to my accommodation and explained my hurriedly decided change of plans, I then drove back to Dublin for even more research.2022 December 12, Bobbie Edes, “My Sad and Glad Tales of PRONI”, in Genealogical Society of Queensland:
If you’re looking for a Caribbean adventure with luxurious accommodation then this is the place for you.2015 October 7, Richard Harbourne, “St. Lucia”, in Travel Counsellors:

› Adaptation or adjustment.

Physical, With to The act of fitting or adapting, or the state of being fitted or adapted; adaptation; adjustment.

It is true, the organization of the humane and animal Body, with accommodation to their several functions and offices, is certainly fitted with the most curious and exact Mechanism imaginable1677, Sir Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind: Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, →OCLC, page 49:

Physical A convenience, a fitting, something satisfying a need.

...and Lady Anne, for the present, felt as if Fanchette and her coach full of accommodations, heavy as they might once be supposed to be, were suddenly swallowed up in that awful sea, to which so many refractory spirits have been exorcised and consigned.1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 226:
Mr. Cooke had had a sloop yacht built at Far Harbor, the completion of which had been delayed, and which was but just delivered. […] The Maria had a cabin, which was finished in hard wood and yellow plush, and accommodations for keeping things cold.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

Biology, Medicine, Natural sciences, Physiology, Sciences Physical The adaptation or adjustment of an organism, organ, or part.

Medicine, Sciences Physical The adjustment of the eye to a change of the distance from an observed object.

Personal Willingness to accommodate; obligingness.

Personal Adjustment of differences; state of agreement; reconciliation; settlement; compromise.

Some of the recent literature on the Germanic settlements reads like an account of a tea party at the Roman vicarage. A shy newcomer to the village, who is a useful prospect for the cricket team, is invited in. There is a brief moment of awkwardness, while the host finds an empty chair and pours a fresh cup of tea; but the conversation, and village life, soon flow on. The accommodation that was reached between invaders and invaded in the fifth- and sixth-century West was very much more difficult, and more interesting, than this.2005, Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization, page 82:

Personal The application of a writer's language, on the ground of analogy, to something not originally referred to or intended.

It is probable to my apprehension, that many of those quotations were intended by the writers of the New Testament as nothing more than accommodations.1794, William Paley, A View of the Evidences of Christianity, reprinted in 1818 by James Robertson, page 283

Business, Commerce Personal A loan of money.

Business, Commerce Personal An accommodation bill or note.

Law Personal An offer of substitute goods to fulfill a contract, which will bind the purchaser if accepted.

Lifestyle, Religion, Theology Personal An adaptation or method of interpretation which explains the special form in which the revelation is presented as unessential to its contents, or rather as often adopted by way of compromise with human ignorance or weakness.

Geography, Geology, Natural sciences The place where sediments can make, or have made, a sedimentation.

Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences, Social science, Sociolinguistics, Sociology Modification(s) to make one's way of communicating similar to others involved in a conversation or discourse.

Pilots […] use the word fuselage whereas laypeople would more likely call the same "thing" the body of an aircraft. […] We have said above that speakers often signal that they belong to a certain group by making their language more similar to that of the other group members […] we thus adapt our language, dialect, accent, style and/or register to that of our addressee or addressees. This process is called speech accommodation. Among the reasons for accommodation may be our desire to identify more closely with the addressee(s), […]2017 February 13, Annette Becker, Markus Bieswanger, Introduction to English Linguistics, UTB, →ISBN, page 178: