accustom

American  

[uh-kuhs-tuhm] / əˈkʌs təm /

verb (used with object)

• accustoms,
  present (3rd person singular)
• accustomed,
  past participle,  past
• accustoming
  present participle

1. to familiarize by custom or use; habituate.

   to accustom oneself to cold weather.

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accustom British  

/ əˈkʌstəm /

verb

1. to make (oneself) familiar (with) or used (to), as by practice, habit, or experience

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• preaccustom
  verb (used with object)
• reaccustom
  verb (used with object)
• unaccustom
  verb (used with object)

Inflected Forms

Participles

• accustoming
  present
• accustomed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• accustom
  simple
• accustoms
  simple
• have accustomed
  perfect
• has accustomed
  perfect
• am accustoming
  progressive
• are accustoming
  progressive
• is accustoming
  progressive
• have been accustoming
  perfect progressive
• has been accustoming
  perfect progressive

Past

• accustomed
  simple
• had accustomed
  perfect
• was accustoming
  progressive
• were accustoming
  progressive
• had been accustoming
  perfect progressive

Future

• will accustom
  simple
• will have accustomed
  perfect
• will be accustoming
  progressive
• will have been accustoming
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of accustom

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English word from Middle French word acoustumer. See ac-, custom

Explanation

The verb accustom means to become used to or familiar with something; to make something a habit. If there is a new baby in your family, you will most likely become accustomed to changing diapers. Although the verb accustom looks like it should be related to the word custom, it actually comes through costume, through the Old French acostumer, with à, meaning "to," and costume, meaning "fashion or habit." Now it retains the meaning to make something a habit. You can accustom yourself to loud sirens if you live in a city or to the sound of crickets if you live in the country. Parents often cannot become accustomed to the musical taste of their kids.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

accustom accustoms accustomed accustoming

Trent, the former customer the Roosevelt Bartell, ended up at the Rite Aid in Wedgwood, where she said she’s had to accustom herself to long waits.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 16, 2023

Much the same is true for the pandemic, which lingers in ways we find we can endure precisely because our martial metaphors accustom us to thinking we will definitively defeat it.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 9, 2022

Apparently convinced of the virtues of modesty, he never seemed to accustom himself to the perquisites of fame and high office.

From New York Times ● Dec. 26, 2021

You can accustom yourself to believing things without support or believing things without empirical validation or believing by simply brushing aside questions.

From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2021

It had taken a while to accustom herself to the bird, to end her fearfulness around it.

From "Son" by Lois Lowry

Chief among these techniques is "systematic desensitization," the process a mother uses when she accustoms a baby to the ocean by dipping in one foot first, then a leg, then the infant's whole body.

From Time Magazine Archive

Though it is repetitious and - I am afraid to say - increasingly annoying to listen to, this technique soon accustoms our ears to expect equal weight in a tune’s two halves.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Time, philosophy tells us, accustoms man to almost anything.

From The Hickory Limb by Rose Cecil O'Neill

The line now assumes in his eyes a very definite meaning; and he accustoms himself to recognize, to interpret and to judge of forms contained by a simple outline.

From Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook by Maria Montessori

I shall always fear that he who accustoms himself to fraud in little things, wants only opportunity to practice it in greater.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Noah Webster

The birds, in turn, are accustomed to floodlights for the "penguin parade" tourist attraction, as well as being periodically handled by veterinarian scientists for monitoring of their health.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

“When people get accustomed to not having access to a community, they make adjustments.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

McKenna's success was built mainly on players from the UK and Republic of Ireland, supplemented by a handful of overseas additions already accustomed to the language and culture through spells at other English clubs.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

Some fans appear to be growing accustomed to this new normal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

He did not think of this course of action as suicidal, but as another gallant gamble of the sort he was accustomed to winning.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Writer-director Adam Meeks has set out to make a drama-documentary hybrid, and this is his simple opening gambit, accustoming us to seeing the characters he has created enmeshed in a world inhabited by real people.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

Bacon said he and the fellow star had no qualms accustoming to their new routine while quarantining amid the coronavirus pandemic.

From Fox News ● Jan. 10, 2022

“These reviews also had a good effect in accustoming the troops to see me, although they saw so much of me in their camps and on the picket-lines that this was of minor importance.”

From New York Times ● Oct. 13, 2017

Asimov viewed part of the task of science fiction as accustoming readers to the idea of change, to the knowledge that “things will be different,” and so to help them plan for change with wisdom.

From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2013

He felt that his parents, while accustoming him to his new life, would weaken him by excess of care and tenderness or chill him by severity and coldness.

From Iermola by Jo?zef Ignacy Kraszewski

Related Words

• acquaint
• adapt