Definition of "acceptation" in English

noun

1. The meaning (sense) in which a word or expression is understood, or generally received.

   • The term is to be used according to its usual acceptation.
   • Farce, indeed, is a term which has been used by literary historians in two rather different shades of meaning. In one acceptation, derived from its use as applied to Maître Pathelin and other examples of fiteenth-century French dramatic humour, it does not so much connote something other than comedy, as a variety of comedy itself. It is a matter of temper and milieu.

2. (now rare) Acceptance; reception; favorable reception or regard; the state of being acceptable.

3. (theology) The active divine decision to approve an act or circumstance, held by Scotists to be necessary to render it meritorious.