<B>accessorize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-rized,</B> <B>-rizing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) to supplement with accessories. <BR> <I>Ex. We accessorized the outfit with a matching turban (McCall's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="accessory">
<B>accessory, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ries,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>an extra thing added to help something of more importance; subordinate or nonessential part or detail. <BR> <I>Ex. A heater is a useful accessory to a car. All the accessories to her costume--hat, gloves, shoes, and purse--were perfectly matched.</I> (SYN) auxiliary, adjunct. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Law.) a person who has helped in a crime or has helped to hide it; one who knowingly helps an offender in the commission of a felony and thus shares in guilt, although not present at the time and place of the violation. <BR> <I>Ex. By not reporting the theft he became an accessory.</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>helping in producing some effect; added; extra. <BR> <I>Ex. His tie supplied an accessory bit of color, which was very pleasing.</I> (SYN) additional, supplementary. <DD><B> 2. </B>helping to commit or hide a crime; helping in a felony. <DD><B> 3. </B>nonessential. <BR><I>expr. <B>accessory after the fact,</B> </I>a person who hides an offender against the law, helps him to escape, or fails to report the offense. <BR> <I>Ex. Near relatives who aid a criminal are not regarded as accessories after the fact in many states (Fred E. Inbau).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>accessory before the fact,</B> </I>a person who supports or encourages an offender against the law in committing a felony. <BR> <I>Ex. By helping the thieves plan the bank robbery, he was an accessory before the fact.</I> adv. <B>accessorily.</B> noun <B>accessoriness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="accessorybud">
<B>accessory bud,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an additional bud forming in or near the leaf axil, such as a bud on a young stem of the red maple. </DL>
<A NAME="accessoryfruit">
<B>accessory fruit,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a fruit having conspicuous fleshy parts that accompany or surround an ovary or ovaries, such as an apple or strawberry. </DL>
<A NAME="accessroad">
<B>access road,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a secondary road leading from or to a main road. </DL>
<A NAME="accessspeed">
<B>access speed,</B><B>=access time </B>(def. 1).</DL>
<A NAME="accesstime">
<B>access time,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the time required to retrieve information from the memory of a computer; access speed. <BR> <I>Ex. Access time ... can range from a fraction of a microsecond to several seconds or minutes (Scientific American).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Television.) a period of time set aside by a network to show programs of affiliates, educational programs, and the like. </DL>
<A NAME="acciaccatura">
<B>acciaccatura, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) <DD><B> 1. </B>an appoggiatura that is sounded as briefly as possible. <DD><B> 2. </B>a grace note played on an organ with its principal note and immediately released, while the principal note is held. </DL>
<A NAME="accidence">
<B>accidence, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the part of grammar dealing with those changes in the forms of words that show case, number, person, tense, voice, mood, degree, or other relationships. </DL>
<A NAME="accident">
<B>accident, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>something that happens by chance and results in loss, damage, or death; undesirable or unfortunate occurrence. <BR> <I>Ex. She was hurt in an automobile accident.</I> (SYN) misfortune, mishap, disaster, calamity. <DD><B> 2. </B>something that happens without being planned, intended, wanted, or known in advance. <BR> <I>Ex. A series of lucky accidents led the explorer to his discovery. Their meeting was an accident. The story of my life, And the particular accidents gone by, Since I came to this isle (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>chance. <BR> <I>Ex. Prizes of accident as oft as merit (Shakespeare).</I> (SYN) fortune, luck. <DD><B> 4. </B>any nonessential quality. <BR> <I>Ex. Some men classify objects by color and size and other accidents of appearance (Emerson).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>an irregularity in surface or structure. <BR><I>expr. <B>by accident,</B> </I>by chance; not on purpose. <BR> <I>Ex. I met an old friend by accident.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="accidental">
<B>accidental, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>happening by chance; not planned; unexpected. <BR> <I>Ex. an accidental death by drowning. Breaking the dish was accidental; he did not mean to do it. Our accidental meeting led to our becoming friends. The freedom of science is so important to its progress just because it allows the accidental to occur (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists).</I> (SYN) unintentional, fortuitous, casual. <DD><B> 2. </B>nonessential; not necessary; incidental. <BR> <I>Ex. Songs are essential to musical comedy, but accidental to Shakespeare's plays.</I> (SYN) subsidiary. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Music.) of or having to do with an accidental. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>(Music.) a sign used to show a change of pitch from the key signature; a flat, a sharp, or a natural just before the note to be changed. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Music.) the tone indicated by any of these. <DD><B> 3. </B>a nonessential property. <BR><I>expr. <B>accidentals</B> </I><B>=accidental lights.</B> noun <B>accidentalness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="accidentalcolor">
<B>accidental color,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a complementary color seen after fixing the eye for a time on a particular color and then turning the eye away. A personstaring at a blue object and then turning his glance away will see the color yellow, as blue and yellow are complementary or accidental colors. </DL>
<A NAME="accidentallights">
<B>accidental lights,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> combinations of light and shade painted into a picture, especially to make certain subjects stand out from the rest of the picture, such as light streaming through foliage; accidentals. </DL>
<A NAME="accidentally">
<B>accidentally, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> without being planned; by chance; not on purpose; unintentionally. </DL>
<A NAME="accidentalpresident">
<B>accidental president,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a Vice President of the United States who becomes President because of the death or resignation of the President. Harry S. Truman was an accidental president. </DL>
<A NAME="accidented">
<B>accidented, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having irregularities of surface. </DL>
<A NAME="accidentinsurance">
<B>accident insurance,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> insurance against accidental personal injury suffered by the insured. </DL>
<A NAME="accidently">
<B>accidently, </B>adverb. =accidentally.</DL>
<A NAME="accidentprone">
<B>accident-prone, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> tending to have or cause accidents. <BR> <I>Ex. Youthfulness alone does not make drivers accident-prone (Maclean's).</I> noun <B>accident-proneness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="accidia">
<B>accidia, </B>noun. =accidie.</DL>
<A NAME="accidie">
<B>accidie, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> sloth; torpor; loss of interest in life. <BR> <I>Ex. Advisory committees, if they are confined to pure advice and never get near the point of action, fade away into a kind of accidie (C. P. Snow).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="accipiter">
<B>accipiter, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>any one of several short-winged hawks having a long tail and able to fly at great speed, such as a goshawk or Cooper's hawk. They live mostly by preying on other birds. <DD><B> 2. </B>any bird of prey. </DL>
<A NAME="accipitral">
<B>accipitral, </B>adjective. =accipitrine.</DL>
<A NAME="accipitrine">
<B>accipitrine, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or having to do with hawks, especially accipiters. <DD><B> 2. </B>hawklike; raptorial. </DL>
<A NAME="acclaim">
<B>acclaim, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to welcome with loud approval; praise highly; applaud. <BR> <I>Ex. The crowd acclaimed the fireman for rescuing two people from the burning house.</I> (SYN) extol. <DD><B> 2. </B>to proclaim or announce with signs of approval; hail. <BR> <I>Ex. The newspapers acclaimed the fireman a hero.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Canadian.) to elect to an office without opposition. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to shout applause. <DD><I>noun </I> a shout or show of approval; applause; welcome. <BR> <I>Ex. The astronaut was welcomed with great acclaim.</I> (SYN) acclamation, plaudits. noun <B>acclaimer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="acclamation">
<B>acclamation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a shout of welcome or show of approval by a crowd; applause. <BR> <I>Ex. When the President stood up to speak, he was greeted by the acclamation of the crowd.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Canadian.) an electing without opposition. <BR><I>expr. <B>by acclamation,</B> </I>with an oral vote in which the votes are not counted, particularly an overwhelming vote of approval. <BR> <I>Ex. All the members said "Aye," and so the chairman was elected by acclamation.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="acclamatory">
<B>acclamatory, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> expressing acclamation. <BR> <I>Ex. He was sent out again by the acclamatory voice of the nation (Robert Chambers).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="acclimatation">
<B>acclimatation, </B>noun. =acclimation.</DL>
<A NAME="acclimate">
<B>acclimate, </B>transitive verb, intransitive verb, <B>-mated,</B> <B>-mating.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Especially U.S.) to accustom or become accustomed to a new climate, surroundings, or conditions; acclimatize. <BR> <I>Ex. to acclimate settlers. The penguin has acclimated itself to antarctic conditions. (Figurative.) I have not been long enough at this table to get well acclimated (Oliver Wendell Holmes).</I> adj. <B>acclimatable.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="acclimation">
<B>acclimation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an adjusting by an animal or plant to a new climate or other environmental conditions. Acclimation generally takes place within the lifetime of an individual. </DL>
<A NAME="acclimatization">
<B>acclimatization, </B>noun. <B>=acclimation.</B> <I>Ex. There is an increase in the total volume of blood in the process of acclimatization to a warmer climate (Thomas A. Blair).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="acclimatize">
<B>acclimatize, </B>transitive verb, intransitive verb, <B>-tized,</B> <B>-tizing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to adjust to new conditions; acclimate. <BR> <I>Ex. You can't expect a refugee to escape one day and to start building ... the next. Refugees must first get acclimatized over here (Atlantic).</I> adj. <B>acclimatizable.</B> noun <B>acclimatizer.</B> </DL>
