Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An accessory item of equipment or dress.
  • noun Military equipment other than uniforms and weapons.
  • noun Outward forms of recognition; trappings.
  • noun Archaic The act of accoutring.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Personal vestment or clothing; equipment or furnishing in general; array; apparel.
  • noun plural Dress in relation to its component parts; equipage; trappings; specifically, the equipments of a soldier except arms and clothing; equipage for military service. See equipage.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun an item of clothing that is worn or carried, but not part of one's main clothing.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of accoutering.
  • noun An article of clothing or equipment, in particular when used as an accessory.
  • noun apparatus needed for a task or journey.
  • noun military Equipment other than weapons and uniform.
  • noun trappings.
  • noun An identifying yet superficial characteristic.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun clothing that is worn or carried, but not part of your main clothing

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French accoustrement, from accoustrer + -ment, from Old French acostrer ("arrange, sew up").

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Examples

  • The result was that in the end the Valiant Soldier, of the Christian army, was distinguished by no peculiarity of accoutrement from the Turkish Knight; and what was worse, on a casual view Saint George himself might be mistaken for his deadly enemy, the Saracen.

    The Return of the Native 1878

  • Undoubtedly his most distinguishing artistic trait, Okazaki's graphic style is a peculiar syncretism of cultural and stylistic elements from the East and West that favors funky portmanteaus like a hip hoppish samurai, cybernetic villains decked out in Japanese accoutrement, a seasonal matsuri float carrying a DJ atop a massive PA.

    Anime Nano! 2008

  • Undoubtedly his most distinguishing artistic trait, Okazaki's graphic style is a peculiar syncretism of cultural and stylistic elements from the East and West that favors funky portmanteaus like a hip hoppish samurai, cybernetic villains decked out in Japanese accoutrement, a seasonal matsuri float carrying a DJ atop a massive PA.

    THAT Animeblog 2008

  • Every building, road, tree and "accoutrement" pieces depicted in these pictures were made by Herb.

    Archive 2007-12-01 Der Alte Fritz 2007

  • Why pollute the truly urban with "resort chic" accoutrement?

    Laura L.M. Hill: When Did NY Become LA? Laura L.M. Hill 2011

  • She does not write graphically about sex, but it is in the margins of her pages and her character's consciousness as she is on a crash collision course with womanhood and all its joys, accoutrement and heartaches.

    Carole Mallory: Book Review: The End of Everything by Megan Abbott Carole Mallory 2011

  • Was a second apartment an accoutrement of literary celebrity, or had the family carted its furniture and belongings into other rooms we couldn't see?

    Sean Carman: Saint Christopher Sean Carman 2011

  • She does not write graphically about sex, but it is in the margins of her pages and her character's consciousness as she is on a crash collision course with womanhood and all its joys, accoutrement and heartaches.

    Carole Mallory: Book Review: The End of Everything by Megan Abbott Carole Mallory 2011

  • Was a second apartment an accoutrement of literary celebrity, or had the family carted its furniture and belongings into other rooms we couldn't see?

    Sean Carman: Saint Christopher Sean Carman 2011

  • Why pollute the truly urban with "resort chic" accoutrement?

    Laura L.M. Hill: When Did NY Become LA? Laura L.M. Hill 2011

Comments

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  • Does anyone else use this word in the sense of the smaller components of some larger, inclusive whole?

    May 27, 2008

  • I use it more as a synonym for accessory or accompaniment, but not exclusively in a sartorial sense. So a turkey dinner's accoutrements might include cranberry sauce and stuffing.

    May 27, 2008

  • That was what I was thinking, thanks.

    May 28, 2008