2. Permission to enter; the power or right of entrance; also,
actual entrance; reception.
To gain admittance into the house. --South.
He desires admittance to the king. --Dryden.
To give admittance to a thought of fear. --Shak.
3. Concession; admission; allowance; as, the admittance of an
argument. [Obs.] --Sir T. Browne.
4. Admissibility. [Obs.] --Shak.
5. (Eng. Law) The act of giving possession of a copyhold
estate. --Bouvier.
Syn: Admission; access; entrance; initiation.
Usage: {Admittance}, {Admission}. These words are, to some
extent, in a state of transition and change.
Admittance is now chiefly confined to its primary
sense of access into some locality or building. Thus
we see on the doors of factories, shops, etc. ``No
admittance.'' Its secondary or moral sense, as
``admittance to the church,'' is almost entirely laid
aside. Admission has taken to itself the secondary or
figurative senses; as, admission to the rights of
citizenship; admission to the church; the admissions
made by one of the parties in a dispute. And even when
used in its primary sense, it is not identical with
admittance. Thus, we speak of admission into a
country, territory, and other larger localities, etc.,
where admittance could not be used. So, when we speak
of admission to a concert or other public assembly,
the meaning is not perhaps exactly that of admittance,
viz., access within the walls of the building, but
rather a reception into the audience, or access to the
performances. But the lines of distinction on this
subject are one definitely drawn.