accessory

English

Alternative forms

• (noun): accessary

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /əkˈsɛsəɹi/, /ækˈsɛsəɹi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əkˈsɛs(ə)ɹi/, /ækˈsɛs(ə)ɹi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: accessary

Etymology 1

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

accessory (comparative more accessory, superlative most accessory)

1. 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.

2. (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.

3. 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

Etymology 2

• (legal): First attested in 1414.
• (fashion): First attested in 1896.

Noun

accessory (plural accessories)

1. 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

2. (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, 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.

3. (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.”

4. (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

Descendants

• → Hebrew: אַקְסֵסוֹרִי (aksésori)
• → Japanese: アクセサリー (akusesarī)
• → Korean: 액세서리 (aekseseori)

Translations

References

• “accessory”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.