accustom

verb

ac·​cus·​tom ə-ˈkə-stəm 

accustomed; accustoming; accustoms

transitive verb

: to make familiar with something through use or experience

accustomation

ə-ˌkə-stə-ˈmā-shən 

noun

Synonyms

• acquaint
• familiarize
• initiate
• introduce
• orient
• orientate

Examples of accustom in a Sentence

the task of accustoming new recruits to shipboard life

Recent Examples on the Web

Levesque is accustomed to WWE’s Monday Night RAW bringing 1.5 million viewers to USA, a cable network recently offloaded by its parent company, so the benefits of moving his weekly live telecast to Netflix seem to outweigh any foreseeable costs. —Mikey O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Dec. 2024

The company had been accustomed to having a lot of autonomy under the Fox regime. —Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 26 Nov. 2024

Daphna, who was accustomed to calming Alexander’s worries, quickly tired of his nervous jokes about the clinic. —Julia Whelan Krish Seenivasan Lance Neal, New York Times, 25 Nov. 2024

Both are willful, impulsive, and accustomed to being in charge. —Simon Shuster, TIME, 21 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English acustomen "to habituate (reflexive or intransitive)," borrowed from Anglo-French acustumer, acostumer, from a-, prefix forming transitive verbs (going back to Latin ad- ad-) + -customer, costomer, verbal derivative of custume custom entry 1

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing accustom

• accustom oneself to

Kids Definition

accustom

verb

ac·​cus·​tom ə-ˈkəs-təm 

: to make familiar