appurtenance

American  

[uh-pur-tn-uhns] / əˈpɜr tn əns /

noun

1. Usually appurtenances something associated with, accompanying, or belonging to another thing; accessory.

   A retreat to rolling green hills and idyllic lakes, complete with all the appurtenances of luxury we're used to, is a good stress cure.

2. Law. Usually appurtenances a right or privilege, outbuilding, or other asset belonging to and passing with a principal property.

   The real estate described herein includes all improvements, fixtures, and appurtenances, if any.

3. appurtenances. apparatus; equipment.

   I dislike those workout programs that insist on tons of specialized appurtenances and instruction.

4. belonging, possession, relationship, or origin, or an affix that expresses this.

   The -i in Israeli is a suffix of appurtenance.

   The ethnic appurtenance of job applicants is private information.

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appurtenance British  

/ əˈpɜːtɪnəns /

noun

1. a secondary or less significant thing or part

2. (plural) accessories or equipment

3. property law a minor right, interest, or privilege which passes when the title to the principal property is transferred

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Etymology

Origin of appurtenance

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English apurtenance, apertinaunce, from Anglo-French apurtenance, from Late Latin appertinentia, derivative of appertinēre “to belong to, pertain” equivalent to ap- + -tinēre; ap- ¹, pertain

Explanation

Something that is an accessory to something but not an integral part of it is an appurtenance. If you buy a car, you may want to purchase a few appurtenances for it, like an ice scraper and fuzzy dice to hang from your rear view mirror. The noun appurtenance does not only refer to tangible objects, such as appurtenances of a certain lifestyle. It can also mean equipment or gear for a certain task. By the time you fill your locker with all the appurtenances of a high school student, you won't have room for a coat. Perhaps the appurtenances you should invest in are heavy sweatshirts.

Example Sentences

There were, of course, millions of men with toothbrush mustaches, but the choice by a performer or politician to keep or to discard a symbolic appurtenance is never accidental.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 12, 2016

The actor is a bodybuilder with what seems to be an ancient helmet tattooed on his head, an armored appurtenance around his neck and stars over his nipples.

From Time • Sep. 13, 2012

But the works of genius, the children of the opulently thatched brain of creative art, have never been questioned as the appurtenance of polite splendor.

From Time Magazine Archive

By far the most sensational new presidential appurtenance is an $8,000,000 Boeing VC-137C fan jetliner.

From Time Magazine Archive

They recognized the artist as a decorative appurtenance of civilized life, very much as they recognized the dentist or the undertaker as its convenient appurtenances.

From Tante by Sedgwick, Anne Douglas