1
a
: permission, liberty, or ability to enter, approach, or pass to and from a place or to approach or communicate with a person or thing
Investigators wanted to get access to his home.
consultants who have easy access to the president
b
: freedom or ability to obtain or make use of something
paying for access to the Internet
c
: a way or means of entering or approaching
A canal provides access to the river.
a building that provides wheelchair access [=a way for people in wheelchairs to enter]
d
: the act or an instance of accessing something
2
a
: onset sense 2
an access of illness
b
: a fit of intense feeling : outburst
If it had been in Tito's nature to feel an access of rage, he would have felt it against this bull-faced accomplice.—
George Eliot
George Eliot3
: an increase by addition
a sudden access of wealth
accessed; accessing; accesses
: to get at : to gain access to: such as
a
: to be able to use, enter, or get near (something)
accessed the computer by phone
a system that makes it easier to access the money in your bank account
b
: to open or load (a computer file, an Internet site, etc.)
a file that can be accessed by many users at the same time
Examples of access in a Sentence
Noun
We have Internet access at the library.
a sudden access of hay fever was making him feel miserable
Verb
The new system makes it easier to access the money in your bank account.
Your favorite radio stations can be accessed at the touch of a button.
The file loads every time you access the website.
The file can be accessed by many users at the same time.
She could work at home by remotely accessing the company's network.
You'll need a password to access the database.
Recent Examples on the Web
Elizabeth D. Samet, Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2025
OpenAI completes for-profit recapitalization OpenAI completed its for-profit recapitalization on Tuesday, granting Microsoft a 27% stake in the company and access to its models through 2032.
—Diane Brady, Fortune, 29 Oct. 2025
Byron Tau, Fortune, 29 Oct. 2025
Azure outage hits Microsoft Microsoft has deployed a fix to address an outage of their Azure cloud portal that left users unable to access Office 365, Minecraft and other services.
—Boston Herald Wire Services, Boston Herald, 29 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for access
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Noun
Subscribe to Foreign Affairs to get unlimited access.
—Elizabeth D. Samet, Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2025
OpenAI completes for-profit recapitalization OpenAI completed its for-profit recapitalization on Tuesday, granting Microsoft a 27% stake in the company and access to its models through 2032.
—Diane Brady, Fortune, 29 Oct. 2025
Verb
Under the cloud services loophole, Chinese companies barred from accessing cutting-edge chips can use Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services overseas instead to train their AI models.
—Byron Tau, Fortune, 29 Oct. 2025
Azure outage hits Microsoft Microsoft has deployed a fix to address an outage of their Azure cloud portal that left users unable to access Office 365, Minecraft and other services.
—Boston Herald Wire Services, Boston Herald, 29 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for access
Cite this Entry
“Access.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/access. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
access
1 of 2 noun
ac·cess
ˈak-ˌses 
1
: permission or power to enter, approach, or make use of
access to secret information
Internet access
2
: a way or means of approach
a nation's access to the sea
access
2 of 2 verb
: to get at : gain access to
Legal Definition
access
noun
ac·cess
ˈak-ˌses
often attributive
1
: permission, liberty, or ability to enter, approach, communicate with, or pass to and from a place, thing, or person
public access to federal land
access to the courts
2
: opportunity for sexual intercourse
3
: a landowner's legal right to pass from his or her land to a highway and to return without being obstructed
4
: freedom or ability to obtain, make use of, or participate in something
the right to equal treatment holds with respect to a limited set of interests — like voting — and demands that every person have the same access to these interests—L. H. Tribe
L. H. Tribe5
a
: a way by which a thing or place may be approached or reached
b
: passage to and from a place
provide a means of access to the land
6
: opportunity to view or copy a copyrighted work
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