a subordinate or supplementary part, object, or the like, used mainly for convenience, attractiveness, safety, etc., as a spotlight on an automobile or a lens cover on a camera.
an article or set of articles of dress, as gloves, earrings, or a scarf, that adds completeness, convenience, attractiveness, etc., to one's basic outfit.
Law.
Also called accessory before the fact .a person who, though not present during the commission of a felony, is guilty of having aided and abetted another, who committed the felony.
Also called accessory after the fact .a person who knowingly conceals or assists another who has committed a felony.Compare principal (def. 9b).
Anatomy. accessory nerve.
adjective
contributing to a general effect; supplementary; subsidiary.
Law. giving aid as an accessory.
Origin of accessory
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English accessorie (from Middle French ), from Medieval Latin accessōrius. See accede, -tory1
Wheel spacersWheel spacers are less common, but they’re still a useful and affordable accessory that can make your ATV more stable and less susceptible to getting stuck.
Six ways to make your ATV even more rugged|By Tyler Freel/Outdoor Life|September 17, 2020|Popular Science
Yet perhaps the most important accessory of all is a graphing calculator.
The best graphing calculators for students|PopSci Commerce Team|September 4, 2020|Popular Science
The company is working on a feature for the new remote similar to Find My iPhone that would make the TV accessory easier to find.
Apple is prepping 75 million 5G iPhones for later this year|radmarya|September 1, 2020|Fortune
Faulconer’s administration, for instance, argues it has already started dismantling the basis of single-family zoning in recent years by making it easier to build accessory units, or granny flats, on single-family lots.
Single-Family Zoning’s Century of Supremacy in San Diego|Andrew Keatts|August 26, 2020|Voice of San Diego
At the same time, marketers have an opportunity to take that excitement and affinity for their products and convert those customers again into things like add-ons and accessories.
Why marketers should break SEO strategies into pre- and post-purchase|The Content Studio @ Search Engine Land|August 17, 2020|Search Engine Land
A shift to the accessory position would have also caused the power steering to suddenly quit.
The Cops Who Found Out the Truth About GM's Deadly Cars—in 2006|Michael Daly|July 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Adoption of the accessory has even spawned its own fashion subculture.
The Chinese Can’t Catch Their Breath|Brendon Hong|May 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The accessory was easily lifted by a gust of wind and would regularly get entangled in the wheel spokes of carriages.
Corsets, Muslin Disease, and More of the Deadly Fashion Trends|The Fashion Beast Team|April 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It is no longer primarily an accessory; it becomes something larger.
Victoire de Castellane’s ‘Precious Objects’ at the Gagosian Gallery|Erin Cunningham|March 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Unlike a phone, wearable technology is an add-on, an accessory, something that comes on top.
Is Wearable Technology a Fad or the Future?|Daniel Gross|January 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Why should they not speed the conviction of him whose intrigues were accessory to this double homicide?
Oswald Langdon|Carson Jay Lee
In any case, the man is an accessory before the fact to a thing which he acknowledges wrong on the part of its performer.
A Review of the Systems of Ethics Founded on the Theory of Evolution|C. M. Williams
Yet they are accessory, while the primary power must lie in the content of the pictures themselves.
The Photoplay|Hugo Mnsterberg
But that he was an accessory after the fact no human being could doubt.
The History of England from the Accession of James II.|Thomas Babington Macaulay
For that nation or king is then to be considered, not as an accessory, but as a principal enemy.
The Rights of War and Peace|Hugo Grotius
British Dictionary definitions for accessory
accessory
/ (əkˈsɛsərɪ) /
nounplural-ries
a supplementary part or object, as of a car, appliance, etc
(often plural)a small accompanying item of dress, esp of women's dress
a person who incites someone to commit a crime or assists the perpetrator of a crime, either before or during its commission
adjective
supplementary; additional; subordinate
assisting in or having knowledge of an act, esp a crime