accost
Americanverb (used with object)
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to confront boldly.
The beggar accosted me for money.
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to approach, especially with a greeting, question, or remark.
-
(of prostitutes, procurers, etc.) to solicit for sexual purposes.
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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accostsimple
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accostssimple
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have accostedperfect
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has accostedperfect
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am accostingprogressive
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are accostingprogressive
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is accostingprogressive
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have been accostingperfect progressive
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has been accostingperfect progressive
Past
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accostedsimple
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had accostedperfect
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was accostingprogressive
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were accostingprogressive
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had been accostingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of accost
First recorded in 1570–80, accost is from the Late Latin word accostāre to be or put side by side. See ac-, coast
Explanation
To accost is to approach someone aggressively or confront them in an inappropriate way. Accost describes a confrontation — one that's often aggressive in nature. You're likely to be accosted by angry picketers if you wear your finest fur coat to a march against animal cruelty. The paparazzi make their living by accosting celebrities, pushing in close to snap candid photos as the stars leave their limos.
Vocabulary lists containing accost
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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Grade 11, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
And the careful, steadily reported, once-a-week format may seem like a dinosaur in this hyper-paced timeline where deluges of information accost us every ticking second.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
The mob was there to accost and hurl insults at 58-year-old Kiai Ashari, the caretaker of the Ndholo Kusumo Islamic boarding school, as he was escorted away by police.
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
A rare moment of high drama flares when a pregnant woman, Agata, played with firecracker fierceness by Anna Chlumsky, barrels down the basement stairs to accost Renia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
You wait for guests to leave the secure perimeter, and politely accost them for all the details.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 20, 2022
A few furtive shapes darted into alleys at the sound of hoofbeats on the cobbles, but no one dared accost them.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
School marshals escort her and her fellow board members to their cars to ensure no one accosts them.
From Salon ● May 15, 2024
“No one accosts me in the street. No one threatens my life, and nobody shoots me,” said Miller, who is white.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 13, 2023
That he decides to do so because Rebecca accosts and “sour yells” at him while he’s at a urinal requires a higher-than-usual suspension of disbelief.
From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2023
Emi herself yells at someone who’s inconsiderately parked his truck on a stretch of curb, and later at an older man who accosts her in the street.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 26, 2021
An hour later, he accosts her in the midway, drops to his knees, and wraps his arms around her legs.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority has deported and barred 26-year-old Johnson Wen from reentering the country after he crashed the yellow carpet and accosted star Ariana Grande, according to several reports.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 24, 2025
On Tuesday, the 63-year-old doctor of engineering was accosted as she walked through Mexico City.
From Barron's ● Nov. 7, 2025
That’s when he said three men accosted him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
"I cannot move out of my house without being accosted and challenged by the police and driving me back home," Lungu told the BBC in May 2024.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2025
“It was only as if one sailor had met a brother sailor, after twenty-five years’ absence,” Adams joked, “and had accosted him, how fare you, Jack?”
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Fans have been seen accosting board members in hotel lobbies and airports, while on the pitch the team languish 14 points off the Premiership summit as Europe continues to to be a traumatic experience.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2025
A video seen by the Associated Press showed scores of Turkish Cypriots accosting a much smaller group of Slovak and British U.N. soldiers trying to hold them back from starting work inside the buffer zone.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 18, 2023
He has done informal surveys, accosting people about their wing habits, including at one recent college football game in Ohio.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 10, 2023
Last January, a video resurfaced of Greene accosting David Hogg, a survivor of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida.
From Salon ● Apr. 29, 2022
‘I can’t bear that dreadful woman accosting me every time I happen to walk by.’
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
