accost

verb

ac·​cost ə-ˈkȯst 

-ˈkäst

accosted; accosting; accosts

transitive verb

: to approach and speak to (someone) in an often challenging or aggressive way

He was accosted by a stranger on the street.

Examples of accost in a Sentence

He was accosted by three gang members on the subway.

She was so famous that people would accost her on the street and ask for an autograph.

Recent Examples on the Web

Native artists winced two years ago when Gilbert Ortega Jr. accosted Native performers in front of his store in Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona, during a Super Bowl promotion. —Debra Utacia Krol, USA TODAY, 28 Nov. 2024

In the club lounge, Wendy, our resident feminist, accosted me with today’s deal. —Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 3 Nov. 2024

Lin Manuel Miranda was in the building and Pretty Deadly accosted him with Playbills. —Alfred Konuwa, Forbes, 1 Nov. 2024

Jimmy Kimmel accosted Dune stars Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, and Timothée Chalamet with the bucket, and Saturday Night Live aired a song about Marcello Hernández losing his virginity to it. —Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 3 Aug. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French accoster, going back to Old French, "to go alongside of, sail along the coast of, place (a vessel) beside another" (sʼacoster a "to take a place beside, draw near, support"), probably going back to Vulgar Latin *accostāre, from Latin ad- ad- + costa "rib, side" — more at coast entry 1

Note: A common, polysemous verb in Anglo-French, though the English verb, which only begins to appear in the late 16th century, is apparently borrowed directly from Continental French. The sense "to approach and speak to" only appears in French in the early 17th century, about the same time that it appears in English.

First Known Use

1567, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

accost

verb

ac·​cost ə-ˈkȯst 

-ˈkäst

: to approach and speak to often in a challenging or aggressive way