accustomed
Americanadjective
-
customary; usual; habitual.
in their accustomed manner.
- Synonyms:
- regular, normal, characteristic
- Antonyms:
- unusual
-
habituated; acclimated (usually followed byto ).
accustomed to staying up late; accustomed to the noise of the subway.
adjective
-
usual; customary
-
used or inured (to)
-
in the habit (of)
accustomed to walking after meals
Other Word Forms
- accustomedly adverb
- accustomedness noun
- half-accustomed adjective
- well-accustomed adjective
Etymology
Origin of accustomed
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at accustom, -ed 2
Explanation
If you're accustomed to something, you're used to it. Being accustomed has to do with habits and lifestyle. Anything you're accustomed to is a regular thing for you. A rich person is probably accustomed to fancy clothes, expensive food, and beautiful houses. A football player is accustomed to getting tackled and tackling other people. Office workers get accustomed to filling out forms and fixing the copy machine. We can also say an accustomed thing is a usual, customary thing. When you think of the word accustomed, think "nothing new here."
Vocabulary lists containing accustomed
The Watsons Go to Birmingham
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"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Vocabulary from Act 1
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The Wishing Spell
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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.
In a country accustomed to overheated rhetoric and theatrical pronouncements, Peruvians watch Velarde’s carefully-worded declarations, delivered in a calm baritone, most recently on the economic fallout from the Iran war.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026
He had been the third option behind Doncic and Reaves, and he shifted back to a role he has been accustomed to playing over his 23-year career.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2026
“They are accustomed to flexibility, immediacy, and platform ubiquity. By those standards, the Masters has often appeared restrained, even stubbornly so.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2026
We have grown accustomed to short selling investment firms publishing detailed reports on companies they believe are fraudulent.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
He was accustomed to throwing his mind at complicated problems and reasoning them out on his own.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
