accessory
UK/əkˈsɛs.(ə.)ɹi/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
proscribed/əˈsɛs.(ə.)ɹi/
accessory adjective: having a secondary, supplementary or subordinate function by accompanying as a subordinate; aiding in a secondary way; being additional; contributing or being contributory.
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.
- accessory garments
- Surprise parties succeed with the help of accessory neighbors or colleagues.
- Synonyms:
- accompanying, contributory, auxiliary, subsidiary, subservient, additional, acceding
- Assisting a crime without actually participating in committing the crime itself; being connected as an incident or subordinate to a 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
- Supernumerary and generally nonfunctional.
- She had an accessory finger on one hand.
- Dichotomy may, not infrequently, affect other digits; thus in fig. 61 a chick is represented with two bifid toes and partial duplicity of the left leg. Birds with these accessory parts may live and attain the adult condition.1895, Sir John Bland-Sutton, Evolution and disease, page 113
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
- the aspect and accessories of a den of banditti1851, Thomas Carlyle, The Life of John Sterling, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- accompaniment
- An article that completes one's basic outfit, such as a scarf or gloves.
- 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.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...
- 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.
- “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.”2005, Jennifer Worth, Shadows of the Workhouse, Weidenfeld & Nicholson (2009), page 150
- Synonyms:
- abettor, accomplice, ally, coadjutor, accessary
- Something in a work of art without being indispensably necessary, for example solely ornamental parts.
accessory meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam
accessory in Hindi
- accessory, adjunct
- सहित sahit
accessory in Tamil
- துணைக்கருவி, உடந்தை, அணியம்
accessory in Bengali
- accessory
- অতিরিক্ত otirikto, উপকরণ upokoron
accessory in Malayalam
- കുറ്റക്യത്യത്തിൽ സഹായിക്കുന്നവൻ, കൂട്ടാളി, വേഷത്തിൻറെ ഭാഗമായ ചെറിയ വസ്തുക്കൾ
More languagesFewer languages
- accessory in Kannada
- ಮಿಗಿಲಾದ, ನೆರವಿಕ, ಸೇರಿದ, ಹೆಚ್ಚಳಿಕ
- accessory in Arabic
- كَمَالِيّ kamāliyy, مُسَاعِد musāʕid, أَكْسِسْوَار ʔaksiswār
- accessory in Malay
- aksesori
- accessory in Indonesian
- aksesori, kelengkapan
- accessory in Persian
- فرعی far'i, اضافی ezâfi, یدکی yadaki, همدست hamdast
- accessory in Vietnamese
- phụ kiện đính kèm
Examples of accessory in a sentence
- Amongst many secondary, and accessory causes that support Monarchy, these are not of least reckning, […]1641 May, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Causes that hitherto have...
- There was an accessory finger present on the ulnar side of each hand.1958, Acta Pædiatrica:
- Duplications and accessory toes can sometimes be simply reduced or removed, but occasionally the skeletal architecture is very complex and careful planning and meticulous surgery are necessary.2010 March 10, Michael Benson, John Fixsen, Malcolm Macnicol, Klausdieter Parsch, Children’s Orthopaedics and Fractures, Springer Science &...
Synonyms of accessory
- accompanying
- contributory
- auxiliary
- subsidiary
- subservient
- additional
- acceding
- accompaniment
- abettor
- accomplice
6 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of accessory
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more accessory |
| superlative | most accessory |
| alternative form | accessary |
| Noun | |
| plural | accessories |
Origin of accessory
From Medieval Latin accessōrius, from Latin accessor (“helper, subordinate”), from accessus. Compare access, from same root.
From Middle English accessorie, from Medieval Latin accessōrius, from Latin accessor (“helper, subordinate”), from accessus. Compare access, from same root.
Words formed from accessory
- accessorial
- accessorily
- accessoriness
- accessorist
- accessorize
- accessory after the fact
- accessory battery
- accessory before the fact
- accessory breathing
- accessory cloud
- accessory equipment
- accessory fruit
- accessory gonadal structure
- accessoryless
- accessory mineral
- accessory nerve
- accessory pigment
- accessoryship
- accessory shoe
- accessory spleen
- Cambodian accessory
- nonaccessory
- sexcessory
- unaccessory
- vagoaccessory
Phrases with accessory
Questions about accessory
- What does accessory mean?
- Accessory means having a secondary, supplementary or subordinate function by accompanying as a subordinate; aiding in a secondary way; being additional; contributing or being contributory.
- What is accessory in Hindi?
- Accessory in Hindi is सहित (sahit). See Accessory meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use accessory in a sentence?
- Amongst many secondary, and accessory causes that support Monarchy, these are not of least reckning, […]
- What part of speech is accessory?
- Accessory can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce accessory?
- Accessory is pronounced /əkˈsɛs.(ə.)ɹi/ (UK).
Words near accessory in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: accessory (page history and authors); सहित (Hindi) (page history and authors); accessory (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); অতিরিক্ত (Bengali) (page history and authors); accessory (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); accessory (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-accessory.ogg.
Cite this entry: “accessory.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/accessory. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.