admit

v.

1. To grant entrance

   receive, give access to, allow entrance to; see receive 4.

2. To confess

   acknowledge, confess, own, indicate, disclose, divulge, reveal, avow, declare, proclaim, communicate, make known, confide, open up, unbosom oneself, bare, uncover, expose, bring to light, tell, relate, narrate, go into details, make a clean breast of, break down and confess, plead guilty, tell all*, own up*, fess up*, come clean*, level with*, make no bones about*, let slip*, talk*, sing*, cough up*, spill the beans*, spill*, let on*, let one's hair down*, let it all hang out*, come out into the open*, come out of the closet*.

   Antonyms hide*, cover up, obscure. *

3. To acknowledge

   concede, allow, acknowledge, grant, accept, agree, confess, realize, indicate, concur, avow, consent, accede, acquiesce, yield, tolerate, recognize, declare, profess, adopt, assent, accord, confirm, affirm, approve, subscribe to, go along with, coincide, assume, make way for, credit, give credence to, fall in with.

   Antonyms deny*, differ*, disagree. *

4. To permit

   let, allow, grant; see allow 1.

admit is applied to assent that has been elicited by persuasion and implies a conceding of a fact or point of view I'll admit you're right; acknowledge implies the reluctant disclosure of something one might have kept secret he acknowledged the child as his; own denotes an informal acknowledgment of something in connection with oneself to own to a liking for turnips; avow implies an open, emphatic declaration, often as an act of affirmation; confess is applied to a formal acknowledgment of a sin, crime, etc., but in a weakened sense is used in making simple declarations, esp. of something about oneself felt to be shameful, awkward, or damaging I confess I've never understood it See also syn. study at receive.