accomplishment
nounUK /əˈkɒm.plɪʃ.mənt/ · US /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ.mənt/
Etymology * First attested in the early 15th century. * (completes, perfects, equips): First attested around 1600. * accomplish + -ment * Borrowed from French accomplissement, from accomplir
1
The act of accomplishing; completion; fulfilment.
- the accomplishment of an enterprise, of a prophecy, etc
2
That which completes, perfects, or equips thoroughly; acquirement; attainment; that which constitutes excellence of mind, or elegance of manners, acquired by education or training.
- I’ll make a proof how I advance in / My new accomplishment of dancing.1763, Charles Churchill, The Ghost, Book III:
- Accomplishments have taken virtue’s place, / And wisdom falls before exterior grace ;1782, William Cowper, The Progress of Error:
3
Something accomplished; an achievement.
- Increasing sales by 20% in the last quarter was seen as a major accomplishment for the business.
4
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences, Semantics The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that change over time until a natural end point.
- Thus it is attested that some children have taken an accomplishment verb like disappear, which does not have a causative counterpart, and used it as a causative accomplishment in sentences like He disappeared it, i.e. ‘He made it disappear.’1997, Robert van Valin, Randy LaPolla, Syntax, pages 183-84: