accost

verb

ac·​cost ə-ˈkȯst 

-ˈkäst

accosted; accosting; accosts

transitive verb

: to approach and speak to (someone) in an often challenging or aggressive way

He was accosted by a stranger on the street.

Examples of accost in a Sentence

He was accosted by three gang members on the subway.

She was so famous that people would accost her on the street and ask for an autograph.

Recent Examples on the Web

Its harm is felt when a reporter accosts a convalescing patient in the hospital, when a private detective peers through a neighbor's bedroom window for weeks, and when a photographer snaps an opportunistic photo of a woman's underwear. —ArsTechnica, 8 Apr. 2025

Ozturk was accosted on the street and whisked away in an unmarked vehicle. —Jonathan Easley, The Hill, 28 Mar. 2025

On April 16, 2022, Guevara-Espinoza and an accomplice accosted the victim with guns drawn and demanded his car keys while he was parked in the 3700 block of Fillmore Street, according to prosecutors. —Jason Green, Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2025

Describing the moment Meek Mill was confronted, Luce Cannon detailed how the rapper was forcibly accosted with no resistance. —Preezy Brown, VIBE.com, 25 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French accoster, going back to Old French, "to go alongside of, sail along the coast of, place (a vessel) beside another" (sʼacoster a "to take a place beside, draw near, support"), probably going back to Vulgar Latin *accostāre, from Latin ad- ad- + costa "rib, side" — more at coast entry 1

Note: A common, polysemous verb in Anglo-French, though the English verb, which only begins to appear in the late 16th century, is apparently borrowed directly from Continental French. The sense "to approach and speak to" only appears in French in the early 17th century, about the same time that it appears in English.

First Known Use

1567, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for accost

• crisscrossed
• defrost
• embossed
• exhaust
• recrossed
• uncrossed
• bossed
• cost
• crossed
• dost
• glossed
• lost

Kids Definition

accost

verb

ac·​cost ə-ˈkȯst 

-ˈkäst

: to approach and speak to often in a challenging or aggressive way