ACCESS

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does access mean? 

• ACCESS (noun)
  The noun ACCESS has 6 senses:

1. the right to enter

2. the right to obtain or make use of or take advantage of something (as services or membership)

3. a way of entering or leaving

4. a code (a series of characters or digits) that must be entered in some way (typed or dialed or spoken) to get the use of something (a telephone line or a computer or a local area network etc.)

5. (computer science) the operation of reading or writing stored information

6. the act of approaching or entering

  Familiarity information: ACCESS used as a noun is common.

• ACCESS (verb)
  The verb ACCESS has 2 senses:

1. obtain or retrieve from a storage device; as of information on a computer

2. reach or gain access to

  Familiarity information: ACCESS used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ACCESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The right to enter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

access; accession; admission; admittance; entree

Hypernyms ("access" is a kind of...):

right (an abstract idea of that which is due to a person or governmental body by law or tradition or nature)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "access"):

door (anything providing a means of access (or escape))

Sense 2

Meaning:

The right to obtain or make use of or take advantage of something (as services or membership)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("access" is a kind of...):

right (an abstract idea of that which is due to a person or governmental body by law or tradition or nature)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A way of entering or leaving

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

access; approach

Context example:

he took a wrong turn on the access to the bridge

Hypernyms ("access" is a kind of...):

way (any artifact consisting of a road or path affording passage from one place to another)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "access"):

entrance; entranceway; entree; entry; entryway (something that provides access (to get in or get out))

Sense 4

Meaning:

A code (a series of characters or digits) that must be entered in some way (typed or dialed or spoken) to get the use of something (a telephone line or a computer or a local area network etc.)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

access; access code

Hypernyms ("access" is a kind of...):

code (a coding system used for transmitting messages requiring brevity or secrecy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "access"):

back door; backdoor (an undocumented way to get access to a computer system or the data it contains)

Sense 5

Meaning:

(computer science) the operation of reading or writing stored information

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

access; memory access

Hypernyms ("access" is a kind of...):

operation ((computer science) data processing in which the result is completely specified by a rule (especially the processing that results from a single instruction))

Domain category:

computer science; computing (the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "access"):

disk access (memory access to the computer disk on which information is stored)

Derivation:

access (obtain or retrieve from a storage device; as of information on a computer)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The act of approaching or entering

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

he gained access to the building

Hypernyms ("access" is a kind of...):

approach; approaching; coming (the act of drawing spatially closer to something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "access"):

back door; backdoor (a secret or underhand means of access (to a place or a position))

Derivation:

access (reach or gain access to)

• ACCESS (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they access    ... he / she / it accesses   
Past simple: accessed   
Past participle: accessed   
-ing form: accessing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Obtain or retrieve from a storage device; as of information on a computer

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "access" is one way to...):

find; recover; regain; retrieve (get or find back; recover the use of)

Domain category:

computer science; computing (the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "access"):

address (access or locate by address)

log-in; log in; log on (enter a computer)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

access ((computer science) the operation of reading or writing stored information)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Reach or gain access to

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

access; get at

Context example:

I cannot get to the T.V. antenna, even if I climb on the roof

Hypernyms (to "access" is one way to...):

arrive at; attain; gain; hit; make; reach (reach a destination, either real or abstract)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

access (the act of approaching or entering)

accessible (capable of being reached)

accession (the act of attaining or gaining access to a new office or right or position (especially the throne))

 Context examples 

A domain that stabilizes alpha helices in proteins through a very efficient burial of hydrophobic side chains so that polar water molecules do not access them.

(Coiled-Coil Domain, NCI Thesaurus)

Not affording passage or access; blocked against entry.

(Closed, NCI Thesaurus)

TNM staging performed with access to clinical information only.

(Clinical TNM Finding, NCI Thesaurus)

An object representing a specific chromosome for a specific taxon; provides access to all known genes contained in the chromosome and to the taxon.

(Chromosome Object, NCI Thesaurus)

First, CHCs aim to improve access to care for low income, underserved, vulnerable populations.

(Community Health Center, NCI Thesaurus)

Testing the device's ability to protect against ingress or access of unwanted fluids or solids.

(Device Ingress Protection Testing Evaluation Method, Food and Drug Administration)

An connective access point for telecommunication devices, such as modems or fax machines, for the transmission of data.

(Data Port, NCI Thesaurus)

Provides researchers with access to approximately 8,000 cases of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary breast cancer specimens, with associated clinical data.

(Cooperative Breast Cancer Tissue Resource, NCI Thesaurus)

It also can be used to deliver medications that were too potent or too toxic to be administered through peripheral access, for parenteral nutrition delivery; and for placing wires and pulmonary artery catheters.

(Central Venous Cannula Insertion, NCI Thesaurus)

Cytoplasmic CRABP-I and CRABP-II may regulate access of retinoic acid to nuclear retinoic acid receptors.

(Cellular Retinoic Acid Binding Protein, NCI Thesaurus)