accessory
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /əkˈsɛs(ə)ɹi/, /ækˈsɛs(ə)ɹi/
Audio (US): (file) - Homophone: accessary
Etymology 1
From Medieval Latin accessōrius, from Latin accessor (“helper, subordinate”), from accessus.[1] Compare access, from same root.
Adjective
accessory (comparative more accessory, superlative most accessory)
- Having a secondary, supplementary or subordinate function by accompanying as a subordinate; aiding in a secondary way; being additional; contributing or being contributory. [from 1550s][1]
- accessory garments
- Surprise parties succeed with the help of accessory neighbors or colleagues.
- 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavvses that hitherto have Hindred it; republished as Will Taliaferro Hale, editor, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England (Yale Studies in English; LIV), New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1916, →OCLC, 2nd book, page 48:
- Amongst many secondary, and accessory causes that support Monarchy, these are not of least reckning, […]
- (law) Assisting a crime without actually participating in committing the crime itself; being connected as an incident or subordinate to a principal.
- Hypernym: accomplice
- Coordinate term: principal
- Her actions were clearly accessory because they helped him commit and probably also conceal the crime.
- Present in a minor amount, and not essential.
- accessory mineral
Usage notes
- (secondary, supplementary): Said of things and actions, very rarely of people (and then usually in a humorous version of the legal sense, or due to confusion between the noun and the adjective).
Synonyms
- (having a secondary function): accompanying, contributory, auxiliary, subsidiary, subservient, additional, acceding
Translations
having a supplementary function
|
assisting a crime
|
present in a minor amount
|
Etymology 2
From Middle English accessorie, from Medieval Latin accessōrius, from Latin accessor (“helper, subordinate”), from accessus.[2][3][4] Compare access, from same root.
Noun
accessory (plural accessories)
- Something that belongs to part of another main thing; something additional and subordinate, an attachment.
- the accessories of a mobile phone
- 1851, Thomas Carlyle, The Life of John Sterling, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:
- the aspect and accessories of a den of banditti
- (fashion) An article that completes one's basic outfit, such as a scarf or gloves. [from 1896][2]
- 2018 June 5, Jonah Engel Bromwich, Vanessa Friedman, Matthew Schneier, “Kate Spade, whose handbags carried women into adulthood, is dead at 55”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 June 2018:
- One of the first of a wave of American women contemporary designers who emerged in the 1990s, she [Kate Spade] built a brand on the appeal of clothes and accessories that made shoppers smile.
- (law) A person who is not present at a crime, but contributes to it as an assistant or instigator. [from 1414][4]
- She was an accessory to the murder because she helped him commit and probably also conceal the crime.
- 2005, Jennifer Worth, Shadows of the Workhouse, Weidenfeld & Nicholson (2009), page 150:
- “You can be an accessory before the fact, or an accessory after the fact. It doesnʼt matter if itʼs before or after; either way youʼd be in for it.”
- (art) Something in a work of art without being indispensably necessary, for example solely ornamental parts.
Synonyms
- (something that belongs to part of another main thing): accompaniment, addition, attachment, supplement; See also Thesaurus:adjunct
- (one who assists in or instigates an offense): abettor, accomplice, ally, coadjutor, accessary
Derived terms
- accessorial
- accessorily
- accessoriness
- accessorist
- accessorize
- accessory after the fact
- accessory battery
- accessory before the fact
- accessory breathing
- accessory cloud
- accessory equipment
- accessory fruit
- accessoryless
- accessory mineral
- accessory nerve
- accessory pigment
- accessoryship
- accessory shoe
- Cambodian accessory
- nonaccessory
- sexcessory
- unaccessory
- vagoaccessory
Descendants
- → Hebrew: אַקְסֵסוֹרִי (aksésori)
- → Japanese: アクセサリー (akusesarī)
- → Korean: 액세서리 (aekseseori)
Translations
that which belongs to something else deemed the principal, attachment
|
clothing accessory
|
contributor to an offense
|
unessential part in a work of art
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
References
- “accessory”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “accessory (adj.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “accessory (n.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- “accessō̆rie, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- “accessory, n. and adj.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
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