accompany
Americanverb (used with object)
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to go along or in company with; join in action.
to accompany a friend on a walk.
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to be or exist in association or company with.
Thunder accompanies lightning.
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to put in company with; cause to be or go along; associate (usually followed bywith ).
He accompanied his speech with gestures.
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Music. to play or sing an accompaniment to or for.
verb (used without object)
verb
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(tr) to go along with, so as to be in company with or escort
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to supplement
the food is accompanied with a very hot mango pickle
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(tr) to occur, coexist, or be associated with
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to provide a musical accompaniment for (a performer)
Synonym Usage
Accompany, attend, convoy, escort mean to go along with someone (or something). To accompany is to go along as an associate on equal terms: to accompany a friend on a shopping trip. Attend implies going along with, usually to render service or perform duties: to attend one's employer on a business trip. To convoy is to accompany (especially ships) with an armed guard for protection: to convoy a fleet of merchant vessels. To escort is to accompany in order to protect, guard, honor, or show courtesy: to escort a visiting dignitary.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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accompanysimple
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accompaniessimple
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have accompaniedperfect
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has accompaniedperfect
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am accompanyingprogressive
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are accompanyingprogressive
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is accompanyingprogressive
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have been accompanyingperfect progressive
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has been accompanyingperfect progressive
Past
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accompaniedsimple
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had accompaniedperfect
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was accompanyingprogressive
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were accompanyingprogressive
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had been accompanyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of accompany
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English accompanye, from Middle French accompagnier; see ac-, company
Explanation
The verb accompany means to keep someone company, or to be their companion on a trip or journey. In a musical sense, accompany means to play background music for the lead singer or soloist. If you want your friend to keep you company on your way to the store, you could ask her to accompany you on the walk. Or, if you want your friend to play piano while you sing a song, you could ask her to accompany you on piano. Just don’t ask her to do both at the same time or your friend may not want to accompany you anywhere any longer.
Vocabulary lists containing accompany
The Circuit
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"Tribute to the Dog," Vocabulary from the speech
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"Lob's Girl" by Joan Aiken
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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:
Four of these so-called Collaborative Combat Aircraft will accompany a manned fighter to massively increase firepower but at just 20% of the cost of a piloted aircraft.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Another proposal, from a Bronx hearing, would expand the fiscal-impact statements that accompany proposed legislation at the City Council.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Kleiman said many adults rent short-term rentals for young people but then do not accompany them as chaperones.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026
The president developed his own trademark dance to accompany the song -- a stiff shuffle of the hips and fist bumps at waist-high level.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
An old history teacher of mine used to accompany that piece of our past with a popular saying: “God made the world, but the Dutch made the Netherlands.”
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
Their second-highest payroll accompanies the league’s second-worst record.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Cohen said the moisture that typically accompanies those storms should keep the fire threat low.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
The findings raise the possibility that Heliconius butterflies largely avoid the physical deterioration that accompanies aging in most animals.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 22, 2026
There’s a currency that accompanies youth and beauty.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
Robin’s wife, Carrie MacDonald, is his business partner, and she often accompanies him on safaris with clients.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
That shift was accompanied by a major change in the behavior of microglia.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
Decades later she contributed to “Whites Remember Jim Crow,” a collection of reminiscences that accompanied a 2001 American RadioWorks documentary about racism in the segregated South.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
For months, she has been defending Fire Point against allegations of corruption and accusations that have accompanied the company's meteoric rise.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
As Greer's serial offending was emerging, detectives took steps to ensure his family were not in danger, and social work officers, accompanied by local police, visited his home on 5 May.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Flocks of Antarctic petrels and snow petrels accompanied the ship on its journey toward the continent, diving with high, wild screams when the crew threw their garbage overboard into the sea.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
That love is palpable in “Drifting Toward Twilight” and its accompanying documentary, which sees Saar fawning over the orange tint of sloughed bark and the mystical qualities of garden scraps.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
The means they deployed were not violent resistance, but warning, watching, accompanying, documenting, delaying, material support, and refusing isolation.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
Huang’s post and the accompanying letter come as the tech industry and regulators grapple with the implications of more powerful Chinese open-weight models, such as Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3, which was released last week.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
Firetruck costs have more than doubled over the past decade and production delays have lengthened, with delivery times now stretching up to five years, Warren and Banks say in a statement accompanying the resolution.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Just a ghostly figure some would see walking the woods at night, a faint rattling sound accompanying the movement.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
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.
