accompaniment

[ uh-kuhm-puh-ni-muh nt, uh-kuhmp-ni- ]

/ əˈkʌm pə nɪ mənt, əˈkʌmp nɪ- /

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noun

something incidental or added for ornament, symmetry, etc.

Music. a part in a composition designed to serve as background and support for more important parts.

Nearby words

accommodation train, accommodationist, accommodative, accommodative asthenopia, accommodator, accompaniment, accompanist, accompany, accompanying vein, accompanyist, accomplice

Origin of accompaniment

First recorded in 1725–35; accompany + -ment

Related forms

non·ac·com·pa·ni·ment, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for accompaniments

I will not trouble the Professor to play for me, as I am used to playing my own accompaniments.
Professor Huskins|Lettie M. Cummings
I can always play my accompaniments, for I understand the piano.
Vocal Mastery|Harriette Brower
Split merely wanted to play well, to outplay Cecilia, to be independent of her and play her own accompaniments.
The Madigans|Miriam Michelson
These songs are full of the rarest and most piquant melodic beauty, and the accompaniments are rich in colour and originality.
Woman's Work in Music|Arthur Elson

About noon we were rudely awakened by one of the usual Alaskan accompaniments of approaching summer.
Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled|Hudson Stuck

British Dictionary definitions for accompaniments

accompaniment

/ (əˈkʌmpənɪmənt, əˈkʌmpnɪ-) /

noun

something that accompanies or is served or used with something else

something inessential or subsidiary that is added, as for ornament or symmetry

music a subordinate part for an instrument, voices, or an orchestra

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012