The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Reception \Re*cep"tion\ (r[-e]*s[e^]p"sh[u^]n), n. [F.
   r['e]ception, L. receptio, fr. recipere, receptum. See
   Receive.]
   1. The act of receiving; receipt; admission; as, the
      reception of food into the stomach; the reception of a
      letter; the reception of sensation or ideas; reception of
      evidence.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The state of being received.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. The act or manner of receiving, especially of receiving
      visitors; entertainment; hence, an occasion or ceremony of
      receiving guests; as, a hearty reception; an elaborate
      reception.
      [1913 Webster]

            What reception a poem may find.       --Goldsmith.
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   4. Acceptance, as of an opinion or doctrine.
      [1913 Webster]

            Philosophers who have quitted the popular doctrines
            of their countries have fallen into as extravagant
            opinions as even common reception countenanced.
                                                  --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. A retaking; a recovery. [Obs.] --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

reception
    n 1: the manner in which something is greeted; "she did not
         expect the cold reception she received from her superiors"
         [syn: reception, response]
    2: a formal party of people; as after a wedding
    3: quality or fidelity of a received broadcast
    4: the act of receiving [syn: reception, receipt]
    5: (American football) the act of catching a pass in football;
       "the tight end made a great reception on the 20 yard line"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

173 Moby Thesaurus words for "reception":
   acceptance, acceptation, acception, access, accueil, acquiescence,
   acquisition, admissibility, admission, admittance, affair,
   assemblee, assembly, assignation, assimilation, assumption,
   assurance, assuredness, at home, atmospherics, ball, belief,
   blaring, blasting, blind spot, brawl, caucus, certainty, claiming,
   colloquium, commission, committee, completeness, comprehension,
   comprehensiveness, comprisal, conclave, concourse, confidence,
   congregation, congress, conventicle, convention, convocation,
   council, coverage, crawling, credence, credit, credulity, creeping,
   dance, date, dependence, derivation, diet, do, drift, eisteddfod,
   eligibility, embodiment, embrace, embracement, encompassment,
   entrance, entree, entry, envisagement, exhaustiveness, fade-out,
   fading, faith, festivity, fete, forgathering, forum, function,
   gathering, get-together, getting, greeting, hearty welcome, hope,
   housewarming, hug, import, importation, importing, inclusion,
   inclusiveness, income, incoming, incorporation, infiltration,
   ingoing, ingress, ingression, input, insertion, insinuation,
   intake, interference, interpenetration, introduction,
   introgression, intrusion, leakage, levee, matinee, meet, meeting,
   membership, noise, open arms, opening, openness, panel,
   participation, party, penetration, percolation, plenum, possession,
   preview, prom, quorum, rally, reaction, receipt, receival,
   receiving, reliance, reliance on, rendezvous, response, reunion,
   salon, seance, seepage, session, shindig, sit-in, sitting,
   smiling reception, sociable, social, social affair,
   social gathering, soiree, static, stock, store, sureness, surety,
   suspension of disbelief, symposium, synod, taking, taking away,
   taking possession, the glad hand, theft, tolerance, toleration,
   treatment, trust, turnout, vernissage, wake, welcome, welcome mat,
   welcoming, whole