From Longman Business Dictionaryacceptance samplingacˈceptance ˌsampling1MANUFACTURING a way of checking the quality of MASS-PRODUCED goods, in which a small number of the finished items are examined, and the standard of this sample is used as a guide to the quality of the restInspection is undertaken primarily by process control and acceptance sampling.2ACCOUNTING when a small number of documents, records etc are checked to see if they are correct, and the standard of this sample is used as a guide to whether the rest are correct → sampling