accompaniment
Americannoun
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something incidental or added for ornament, symmetry, etc.
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Music. a part in a composition designed to serve as background and support for more important parts.
noun
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something that accompanies or is served or used with something else
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something inessential or subsidiary that is added, as for ornament or symmetry
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music a subordinate part for an instrument, voices, or an orchestra
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of accompaniment
Explanation
If your menu tonight consists of grilled pork and savory apples, then the pork is the main item and the apples are the accompaniment, meaning they complement the main dish. The noun accompaniment entered English in the eighteenth century and originally was used in a musical sense to describe a part in a song that supports or acts as background for another more prominent part. Its meaning later expanded to include not only musical assistance but other things that completes or make better the main thing. You’ll often hear it used to describe a food that supports the main item on a plate.
Vocabulary lists containing accompaniment
Fahrenheit 451
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Prisoner B-3087
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Music - Introductory
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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.
An onstage sandbox is more than just another visual accompaniment to her talk.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 12, 2026
Working his acoustic guitar with a French horn accompaniment — French horns! — he dares us to balance our relentless socioeconomic drive with our deep need to hang out, to while away the hours.
From Salon • Mar. 6, 2026
Traditional music and drumming also provided an accompaniment to the activities.
From BBC • Feb. 20, 2026
This year brought a late, travel-related cancellation from the gifted pianist Utsav Lal, who inculcates the Indian classical tradition into his accompaniment.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 17, 2025
In friskier moods, she performed lazy pirouettes, as though to the accompaniment of my own music box, which I always brought to the roof to keep me company.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
