Access | Academic Word List
Other words in the family
Accessed, accesses, accessibility, accessible, accessing, inaccessible
Access as a noun
1) the right or opportunity to use a facility that will bring you benefits
- Millions of people still have no access to electricity or safe drinking water. • The students demanded that they should be given access to the computer laboratory.
- People in remote villages still don’t have access to good health care.
2) right to look at information that may be private or confidential
- Access to government records is restricted.
- They were given access to official records.
3) permission to see and talk to an important person
- He has direct access to the Prime Minister.
4) the legal right to visit your children after you are divorced
- The court denied him access to his children.
5) the means by which you can get to a place
- Access to the venue was guarded by armed policemen.
- There is easy access to the temple city by road or rail.
Collocations
Access is commonly used with the following verbs.
Allow access / block access / control access / deny access / gain access / give access / grant / limit access / restrict access
Access as a verb
1) to get information
- Many malicious software programs are able to access the personal information stored on your computer.
2) to get to and enter a place
- As the road was closed we couldn’t access the highway.
Notes
Don’t confuse the verb access with the noun access. When access is used as a noun, it should be followed by the preposition to.
- The students have access to the reference library. (NOT The students have access the reference library.)
When access is used as a verb, it should be followed by a direct object. The preposition to is not used.
- Anybody with an internet connection can access our website. (NOT Anybody with an internet connection can access to our website.)
- Students are not allowed to access some websites which may contain information not appropriate for them.
