Other forms: according, accorded, accords
An accord is a formal agreement between sides that were pulling in different directions. A peace accord, a trade accord signed at a summit.
Newspapers like accord because it is short enough for a headline and grand enough for a treaty. Away from politics it survives in two fixed phrases you will meet far more often than the treaty sense. Doing something of your own accord means nobody made you — she left of her own accord. Being in accord with someone means agreeing with them, which is the older, plainer meaning underneath the diplomacy. There is a verb too: the facts accord with his story, meaning they fit it.
1nounaccordA formal agreement between two sides who were in dispute.
“The two governments signed a peace accord.”
synonyms: treaty, pact
2nounopinionAgreement of opinion or feeling.
“The committee was in accord on every point.”
3verbmatchTo match or be consistent with something.
“His story did not accord with the evidence.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
Proto-Indo-European
*ḱerd-
Old French
acort
Middle English
accord
English, today
accord
From Middle English accord, from Old French acort, from acorder (see verb below).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA