1. Housing/Lodging: This is the most common meaning. Accommodation refers to a place to live or stay temporarily, such as a hotel, apartment, hostel, or guesthouse. It can also refer to the act of providing such housing, like "We need to find accommodation for the conference attendees."
2. Adjustment: In psychology, accommodation refers to the process of adjusting existing schemas to incorporate new information or experiences. It's a cognitive process that allows us to learn and adapt to new situations. For example, if you have a schema that all dogs are friendly, but you meet a dog that barks and growls, you might need to accommodate that new information by modifying your schema to include the possibility of unfriendly dogs.
3. Compromise/Adaptation: In a more general sense, accommodation can mean making concessions or adjusting to a situation or someone else's needs. For example, you might "accommodate" a friend's dietary restrictions by offering them a different meal.
4. Space/Room: In some cases, accommodation can refer to physical space or room, especially within a vehicle or building. For example, "The car has limited accommodation for passengers."
To understand the meaning of "accommodation" in a particular context, look at the surrounding words and the overall situation.
For example, "The hotel offers a range of accommodation options" clearly refers to housing. "He needed to accommodate his new job schedule" indicates the meaning of adjustment.