accost

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

US /əˈkɔst/ UK /əˈkɒst/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to approach and speak to someone boldly or aggressively

A stranger tried to accost her as she left the station.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to approach and speak to... confront approach buttonhole waylay hail address

Word family

Related forms coast coastal

Etymology

From Middle French accoster ('to approach, draw alongside'), from Vulgar Latin accostāre ('to come alongside'), from Latin ad- ('to') + costa ('rib, side').

accostāre Vulgar Latin costa Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# accost

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /əˈkɔst/
**IPA (UK):** /əˈkɒst/

## Meanings
1. to approach and speak to someone boldly or aggressively

## Examples
- A stranger tried to accost her as she left the station.

## Synonyms
- confront
- approach
- buttonhole
- waylay
- hail
- address

## Related Forms
- coast
- coastal

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: accostāre
- Root: costa

## Etymology
From Middle French accoster ('to approach, draw alongside'), from Vulgar Latin accostāre ('to come alongside'), from Latin ad- ('to') + costa ('rib, side').

## AI Etymology
accost comes from Middle French accoster ('to approach, draw alongside'), from Vulgar Latin accostāre ('to come alongside'), from Latin ad- ('to') + costa ('rib, side'). Morphologically, the word is transparent as a compound: its parts remain visible in the modern spelling, while the older history of those parts supplies the deeper ancestry. In modern use, the verb sense is "to approach and speak to someone boldly or aggressively", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as coast, coastal, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary. The principal historical forms in the chain include Vulgar Latin accostāre, Latin costa, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

markdown