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

And the notion that video games might accustom people to the idea of war has long been settled: The U.S.

From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2024

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

Several mahouts went to Sri Lanka in advance to accustom the animal to being caged so he wouldn’t panic during the trip to Thailand.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 2, 2023

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

You have to accustom yourself to thinking that way.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

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

One accustoms oneself to the things one sees every day.

From Spiritual Adventures by Arthur Symons

She accustoms her face to a simper, which every separate feature in it belies.

From Sketches of the Fair Sex, in All Parts of the World by Anonymous

Whoever, therefore, undervalues this National Union, whoever depreciates it, whoever accustoms himself to consider how the people might get on without it, appears to me to encourage sentiments subversive of the foundations of our prosperity.

From The Works of Daniel Webster, Volume 1 by Daniel Webster

You are lucky and/or willing to keep working, and ensure that you top up your retirement fund, and keep yourself in the lifestyle — however grand or modest — to which you have become accustomed.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026

Growing up, Alejandra Villarreal was accustomed to the dry Mexican heat, trapped inside the small historic venues where she and her sisters would perform as kids.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

Gym bros accustomed to bench-presses and burpees swagger into serene studios expecting to spend 50 minutes doing light exercises with toy dumbbells.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

The first international break of the season is under way - and this one is longer than fans will have become accustomed to.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

Some of the adults left first, probably because they’re more accustomed to being patient.

From "Because of Mr. Terupt" by Rob Buyea

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

The old falconers called the process of accustoming a hawk to a human “watching.”

From Slate ● Mar. 6, 2015

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