accredit

accredit — verb

1. to give a school, hospital, person, or product a formal stamp of approval, certi

1.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

to give a school, hospital, person, or product a formal stamp of approval, certifying that it meets the required standards set by a governing body — for example, declaring a university qualified to award degrees, or licensing a journalist to cover an event.

Example

The Ministry of Education accredited Lin's small cooking school last spring.

transitive: accredit + institution

Fadi's clinic was accredited by the national health board after a long inspection.

passive: be accredited by + governing body

Common collocations
  • officially accredited
  • fully accredited
  • nationally accredited
  • accredited by [a body]
  • accredited as [a role]
  • accredited to [a country / event]
Synonyms
  • certify

    very close in meaning; 'certify' is more often used for individuals or products meeting a standard

  • authorize

    broader — about giving permission to act, not specifically about meeting standards

  • license

    issuing a legal permit, often paid; narrower than accredit

  • endorse

    showing public support; less formal than accredit and not tied to standards inspection

Antonyms
  • revoke

    to take back an existing accreditation

  • disqualify

    to rule that someone or something fails to meet the standard

Grammar Patterns

accredit + noun

be accredited as + noun

accredit + noun + to + place

Usage Note

Frequently passive in everyday writing — the named agent (the body that grants approval) often appears in a 'by'-phrase, or is left out when obvious. Subject is usually an institution, an inspecting authority, or a government; object is usually a school, hospital, lab, journalist, or diplomat.

Common Mistakes

My yoga teacher accredited me.
A national yoga association accredited my teacher's studio.
the agent must be an authoritative body, not an individual.
The school was accredited with the ministry.
The school was accredited by the ministry.
use 'by' for the granting authority.

Word family

  • accredited
    adjectiveC1
  • accreditation
    nounC1
  • credit
    nounB1
  • credible
    adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All five verbs cover ways of giving formal approval, but they fit different scenes. 'Accredit' is the most institutional — a recognized body inspects an organization (a school, lab, or hospital) and confirms it meets a published standard. 'Certify' is broader and often applies to individuals, products, or documents (a certified accountant; a certified copy). 'Authorize' simply means giving permission to do something, without any standards check ('only managers are authorized to sign'). 'License' is about issuing a legal permit, usually paid and renewable, like a driver's license. 'Endorse' means publicly supporting someone or something, with no inspection at all. So a university is accredited; a translator is certified; a guard is authorized; a driver is licensed; and a celebrity endorses a product.

accredit ↗certify ↗authorize ↗license ↗endorse ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • fully accredited institution
  • accredited training programme
  • accredited representative
  • lose accreditation

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Borrowed into English in the late 1600s from French 'accréditer', built on 'à' (to) plus 'crédit' (credit, trust), which itself comes from Latin 'credere' (to believe, to trust). The original idea was 'to give credit or standing to' — an envoy was 'accredited' to a foreign court, meaning the host was being asked to trust him as a legitimate representative. Over time the verb extended from diplomats to schools, labs, and other bodies whose standing must be vouched for by a recognized authority.