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accessory

UK/əkˈsɛs.(ə.)ɹi/US/əkˈsɛs.(ə.)ɹi/
nounB22 meaningsCommon in everyday speech and writing · #4,911 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: accessories

An accessory is a small extra item that goes with something else. A scarf with an outfit, or a lens with a camera.

Fashion uses it for bags, belts and jewellery, and the plural covers the whole category. Equipment uses it for optional attachments. There is a completely separate legal sense, since an accessory to a crime is somebody who helped without carrying it out, and the law distinguishes an accessory before the fact from one after. The spelling has two c's and two s's and catches everybody.

Unknown · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of accessory

  1. 1nounaccessoryA small additional item that complements something else.B2

    “The bag was the only accessory she wore.”

  2. 2nounhelpsA person who helps somebody commit a crime.C1

    “He was charged as an accessory after the fact.”

Where it comes from

  1. Medieval Latin

    accessōrius

  2. English, today

    accessory

Borrowed from Medieval Latin accessōrius. From Medieval Latin accessōrius, from Latin accessor (“helper, subordinate”), from accessus. Compare access, from same root.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 28 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word