accompany
Americanverb (used with object)
-
accompanies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
accompanied,
past participle, past
-
accompanying
present participle
-
to go along or in company with; join in action.
to accompany a friend on a walk.
-
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)
-
accompanies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
accompanied,
past participle, past
-
accompanying
present participle
verb
-
(tr) to go along with, so as to be in company with or escort
-
to supplement
the food is accompanied with a very hot mango pickle
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(tr) to occur, coexist, or be associated with
-
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
-
accompaniessimple
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have accompaniedperfect
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has accompaniedperfect
-
am accompanyingprogressive
-
are accompanyingprogressive
-
is accompanyingprogressive
-
have been accompanyingperfect progressive
-
has been accompanyingperfect progressive
Past
-
accompaniedsimple
-
had accompaniedperfect
-
was accompanyingprogressive
-
were accompanyingprogressive
-
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:
Officials and supporters had readied talking points to accompany the definition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
The hit man’s quest to track down nursing mothers lends “Your Mother” a peculiar but propulsive forward momentum while neatly indicting the macho stereotypes that usually accompany such action movies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
There are also worries about the costs and anxiety that can accompany a false-positive test.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
In those settings, the beading can accompany damage to the cell membrane and the internal framework that helps maintain the axon's structure.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
Determined to get Bobby to Moscow, Regina had appealed to the producers to help her come up with a ticket not only for her son but also for his sister Joan to accompany him.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
So on Air Force One, for example, or in the Oval Office, the White House press pool accompanies the president to those kinds of places, and when he travels, accompanies him.
From Slate ● Sep. 30, 2026
“They seem to be especially triggered about my posts about Natalie Harp and how she accompanies the president everywhere.”
From Salon ● Sep. 16, 2026
Often, it helps to see a visual representation of your finances in black and white so you can deal with the hard facts, rather than the swirl of anxiety that accompanies them.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
The tagline that accompanies the scene reads: "POV you're a childfree and single girl that has no friends and lives alone so this is how you spend your Friday night."
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
Padva inquires after the Burgess sisters arrive on their own, since he commonly accompanies them.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
The videos were part of a wave of misinformation that accompanied a child vaccination campaign this year that saw more than seven million Filipinos inoculated.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
The message accompanied a video of the former Big Brother host discussing how Dame Esther was an "inspiration to girls like me when we were growing up".
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
You may be wondering just what kind of company would be so willing to lavish the resources required for a full-scale New York City musical, accompanied by loads of free merch.
From Slate ● Oct. 1, 2026
Those microbial changes were accompanied by improvements in some measures linked to metabolic syndrome and intestinal health.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026
The organ music accompanied our walk down the aisle and out of the church.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
Absent the top of the internet bubble, the contrasts plotted in the accompanying chart would be even bigger.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
The industry has recovered only about half of tariff-policy-related costs, a "sustained margin drag that is likely to weigh on supplier financials," according to a commentary from Deloitte accompanying the survey.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
They also follow the regulator's current guidance on seating children under 12 with their accompanying adult.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
A report accompanying Tuesday’s announcement said that federal and city data show a notable increase in anti-Jewish crimes since the Oct.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
If the prospect of this flattening—and all of the pressures, dislocations, and opportunities accompanying it—makes you uneasy about the future, you are neither wrong nor alone.
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
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.
