appurtenance

American  

[uh-pur-tn-uhns] / əˈpɜr tn əns /

noun

1. Usually appurtenances something associated with, accompanying, or belonging to another thing; accessory.

   A retreat to rolling green hills and idyllic lakes, complete with all the appurtenances of luxury we're used to, is a good stress cure.

2. Law. Usually appurtenances a right or privilege, outbuilding, or other asset belonging to and passing with a principal property.

   The real estate described herein includes all improvements, fixtures, and appurtenances, if any.

3. appurtenances. apparatus; equipment.

   I dislike those workout programs that insist on tons of specialized appurtenances and instruction.

4. belonging, possession, relationship, or origin, or an affix that expresses this.

   The -i in Israeli is a suffix of appurtenance.

   The ethnic appurtenance of job applicants is private information.

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appurtenance British  

/ əˈpɜːtɪnəns /

noun

1. a secondary or less significant thing or part

2. (plural) accessories or equipment

3. property law a minor right, interest, or privilege which passes when the title to the principal property is transferred

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Etymology

Origin of appurtenance

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English apurtenance, apertinaunce, from Anglo-French apurtenance, from Late Latin appertinentia, derivative of appertinēre “to belong to, pertain” equivalent to ap- + -tinēre; ap- ¹, pertain

Example Sentences

There were, of course, millions of men with toothbrush mustaches, but the choice by a performer or politician to keep or to discard a symbolic appurtenance is never accidental.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 12, 2016

The actor is a bodybuilder with what seems to be an ancient helmet tattooed on his head, an armored appurtenance around his neck and stars over his nipples.

From Time • Sep. 13, 2012

Yet she says she feels more like her own person, not a presidential appurtenance, when she travels abroad with Reagan.

From Time Magazine Archive

Tanks, cannon, airplanes, Red Cross ambulances and every appurtenance of real war, right down to hot weather, secrecy and red tape, accompanied the show.

From Time Magazine Archive

Her eyes and hair were dark, her face was pale and she held up her head as if, with its thick braids, it were an appurtenance she was not ashamed of.

From A London Life and Other Tales by James, Henry