MEANING
1. To acknowledge that a point is true or valid, especially when it weakens your own position.
2. To surrender a claim, right, or advantage to another party.
3. To allow an opponent to score a goal or point against one's side.
Use it for
balanced argument; responding to objections; negotiated outcomesAcknowledge a real limitation before explaining what still follows.
Words that belong together
- concede a point
- concede that
- concede defeat
On the page
I concede that the reform increased costs in its first year.
The review concedes the dataset is incomplete but defends the comparison.
After the recount, the candidate conceded defeat.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- concede / concedes
- Past tense
- conceded
- Past participle
- conceded
- Present participle
- conceding
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- concede / concedes
- Present continuous
- am/is/are conceding
- Present perfect
- have/has conceded
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been conceding
- Past
- conceded
- Past continuous
- was/were conceding
- Past perfect
- had conceded
- Past perfect continuous
- had been conceding
- Future
- will concede / concedes
- Future continuous
- will be conceding
- Future perfect
- will have conceded
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been conceding
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: academic. A concession can be narrow; conceding one objection need not mean abandoning the entire argument. Concede that introduces the acknowledged point. Verb inflections [base, third-person singular, past, past participle, -ing]: concede, concedes, conceded, conceded, conceding. Derived family (not inflections): concession.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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