What does readmittance mean?
Readmittance means the act of admitting someone again after they have been excluded, discharged, or removed from an institution or organization. It can refer to a student returning to a school, a patient returning to a hospital, a resident returning to a prison, or a person being restored to a former position or membership. The word has a formal, slightly old-fashioned tone and appears particularly in legal, educational, and administrative contexts. In ordinary modern English, readmission is much more common and usually serves the same function. Readmittance emphasizes the act of allowing or being allowed back in, while readmission is the more familiar term for that process. The word is therefore useful chiefly in formal writing, historical texts, and contexts where a precise institutional or legal designation is required.
nounThe act of readmitting someone, especially to a school, hospital, prison, or other institution from which they have been excluded or discharged. The term is formal and relatively uncommon; readmission is more usual in modern English.
- The act of admitting again a person who has been excluded, discharged, or removed from an institution.
- The act of restoring a person to membership, employment, or another previously held status.
"The appeal resulted in the readmittance of the student to the university."
"The court ordered the readmittance of the applicant to the medical college."
"Her readmittance to the club was approved after the investigation."
The plural is rare and is chiefly used in formal or legal writing.
"The court's decision led to several readmittances before the semester ended."
Readmittance is the formal, slightly ceremonious word for letting someone back in.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does readmittance come from?
Readmittance was formed from the verb readmit together with the noun-forming suffix -ance. Readmit itself combines the prefix re-, meaning again, with admit, from Latin admittere, meaning to allow to enter or let in. The related forms admission, admissible, and admittance share this Latin root and its sense of permitting entry or acceptance.
Related word forms
How readmittance is actually used
Readmittance is formal, literary, and relatively rare. In contemporary institutional, legal, and administrative usage, readmission is generally preferred.
Easily confused with readmittance
Readmission is the standard modern noun for the act or process of being admitted again, whereas readmittance is a more formal and less common variant often used in institutional or legal contexts.