What does "accost" mean?
Address; greeting.
Accost
/əˈkɔst/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Address; greeting.
- Grammar: accost is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: address, address, advance, apostrophize.
- Useful contrasts: avoid, ignore.
- Usage evidence: The term refers to the three witches who accost Macbeth.
How to use "accost"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "accost" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "accost" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "accost" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "accost" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "accost" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "address" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "accost", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Address; greeting. rare
"A man does not seize a woman by the sleeve and ask, "Is it you?" without some reason for an address so destitute of ordinary courtesy; and Lucilla was sufficiently versed in such matters to know that so rude and startling an accost could be only addressed to some one whose presence set the speaker's heart beating, and quickened the blood in his veins."
- 2 An attack.
"At last, when I was already within reach of her, I stopped. Words were denied me; if I advanced I could but clasp her to my heart in silence; and all that was sane in me, all that was still unconquered, revolted against the thought of such an accost."
Verb
- 1 To approach and speak to boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request. transitive
"A beggar accosted me as soon as I stepped outside."
- 2 approach with an offer of sexual favors wordnet
- 3 To join side to side; to border. obsolete, transitive
- 4 speak to someone wordnet
- 5 To sail along the coast or side of. broadly, obsolete, transitive
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 To approach; to come up to. obsolete, transitive
"You mistake, knight. ‘Accost’ is front / her, board her, woo her, assail her."
- 7 To speak to first; to address; to greet. transitive
"Him, Satan thus accosts."
- 8 To adjoin; to lie alongside. intransitive, obsolete
"For all the Shores, which to the Sea accost"
- 9 To assault. transitive
"The Missouri prosecutors' case against Clemons, based partly on incriminating testimony given by his co-defendants, was that Clemons was part of a group of four youths who accosted the sisters on the Chain of Rocks Bridge one dark night in April 1991."
- 10 To solicit sexually. transitive
"Gladstone's initial tone of disinterested philanthropy also characterized his first encounters with prostitutes in London once he has moved there to undertake his parliamentary duties. Accosted in a London park in 1837 by two women, Gladstone merely reported of them that "both ... had taken to their miserable calling from losing their livelihood by the death of their husbands.""
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"The term refers to the three witches who accost Macbeth."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "accost"?
Common synonyms include: address, address, advance, apostrophize, appeal to, approach.
How do you use "accost" in a sentence?
The term refers to the three witches who accost Macbeth.
How do you pronounce "accost"?
Pronounced /əˈkɔst/.
Etymology
From Middle French accoster, acoster, from Old French acoster (“to stand beside”) (whence Medieval Latin accostare), from Old French a- + coste (“side, flank”).