Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
According
Ac-cord′ing
,p.
Adj.
Agreeing; in agreement or harmony; harmonious.
“This according voice of national wisdom.” Burke.
“Mind and soul according well.” Tennyson.
According to
him, every person was to be bought. Macaulay.
Our zeal should be
according to
knowledge. Sprat.
☞ According to has been called a prepositional phrase, but strictly speaking, according is a participle in the sense of agreeing, acceding, and to alone is the preposition.
According as
, precisely as; the same as; corresponding to the way in which. According as is an adverbial phrase, of which the propriety has been doubted; but good usage sanctions it. See
According
, adv.
Is all things well,
According as
I gave directions? Shakespeare
The land which the Lord will give you
according as
he hath promised. Ex. xii. 25.
Ac-cord′ing
,adv.
Accordingly; correspondingly.
[Obs.]
Shak.
Webster 1828 Edition
According
ACCORD'ING
,ppr.
1.
Agreeing; harmonizing.Th' according music of a well mixt state.
2.
Suitable; agreeable; in accordance with.In these senses, the word agrees with or refers to a sentence.
Our zeal should be according to knowledge.
Noble is the fame that is built on candor and ingenuity, according to those beautiful lines of Sir John Denham.
Here the whole preceding parts of the sentence are to accord, i.e. agree with, correspond with, or be suitable to, what follows. According, here, has its true participial sense, agreeing, and is always followed by to. It is never a preposition.
Definition 2024
according
according
English
Alternative forms
- accourding (obsolete)
Verb
according
- present participle of accord.
- (Can we date this quote?), Alfred Tennyson, (Please provide the title of the work):
- Mind and soul according well.
-
Adjective
according (comparative more according, superlative most according)
- Agreeing; in agreement or harmony; harmonious.
- This according voice of national wisdom.
Adverb
according (comparative more according, superlative most according)
- (obsolete) Accordingly; correspondingly. [16th-17th c.]
- 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, V.i:
- That apprehends no further than this world, / And squarest thy life according.
-
- Consistently as; in a corresponding manner (now generally expressing accordance with two or more alternatives). [from 16th c.]
- 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.20:
- Ethical theories may be divided into two classes, according as they regard virtue as an end or a means.
-
- In accordance, in a manner consistent to (something). [from 16th c.]
- 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:
- there was only a frightening silence, unenlivened even by the invidious enquiries of former years, which culminated, according to its stern nature, in a still more frightening old woman, a figure awaiting her on the very doorstep.
-