accessory
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- (noun): accessary
Pronunciation[edit]
- (General American) IPA(key): /əkˈsɛsəɹi/, /ækˈsɛsəɹi/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əkˈsɛs(ə)ɹi/, /ækˈsɛs(ə)ɹi/
Audio (US) (file) - Homophone: accessary
Etymology 1[edit]
First attested in 1550s. From Middle English accessorie, from Medieval Latin accessōrius, from Latin accessor (“helper, subordinate”), from accessus. Compare access, from same root.
Adjective[edit]
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.
- accessory garments
- Surprise parties succeed with the help of accessory neighbors or colleagues.
- (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[edit]
- (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[edit]
- (having a secondary function): accompanying, contributory, auxiliary, subsidiary, subservient, additional, acceding
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
having a supplementary function
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assisting a crime
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present in a minor amount
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Etymology 2[edit]
- (legal): First attested in 1414.
- (fashion): First attested in 1896.
Noun[edit]
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.
- 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[1], 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.
- 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[edit]
- (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[edit]
Descendants[edit]
- → Hebrew: אַקְסֵסוֹרִי (aksésori)
- → Japanese: アクセサリー (akusesarī)
- → Korean: 액세서리 (aekseseori)
Translations[edit]
that which belongs to something else deemed the principal, attachment
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clothing accessory
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contributor to an offense
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unessential part in a work of art
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
References[edit]
- “accessory”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
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