accessory

• (noun): accessary

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əkˈsɛsəɹi/, /ækˈsɛsəɹi/
• (Received Pronunciation) also IPA^(key): /əkˈsɛsɹi/, /ækˈsɛsɹi/

First attested in 1550s. From Middle English accessorie Medieval Latin accessōrius, from Latin accessor (“helper, subordinate”), from Latin accessus. Compare English access, from same root.

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; being connected as an incident or subordinate to a principal; contributing or being contributory. Said of people and things, and, when of people, usually in a bad sense

   She was accessory to the riot.

   accessory sounds in music

2. (law) Assisting a crime without actually participating in committing the crime itself.
3. Present in a minor amount, and not essential.

• (having a secondary function): accompanying, contributory, auxiliary, subsidiary, subservient, additional, acceding

• accessory breathing

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

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

   • (Can we date this quote?) Thomas Carlyle:

     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.
   • "Kate Spade, Whose Handbags Carried Women Into Adulthood, Is Dead at 55" by Jonah Engel Bromwich, Vanessa Friedman and Matthew Schneier, The New York Times (2018)

     One of the first of a wave of American women contemporary designers who emerged in the 1990s, she 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.
4. (art) Something in a work of art without being indispensably necessary, for example solely ornamental parts.

• (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

• accessory before the fact
• accessory after the fact

• accessory in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.