accustom

CEFRC1

/əˈkʌs.təm/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
verb
To make someone familiar with something through repeated experience.
02
verb
Extra detail
To be wont.

Examples

Children are quick to accustom themselves to new surroundings.
It took a long time to accustom myself to the noise.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 4
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5
Synonyms: 5

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

To cohabit.
To make familiar by use; to cause to accept; to habituate, familiarize, or inure.

More examples

In context

Early exposure to pet allergens and pet-related bacteria accustoms the body to allergens.
I shall always fear that he who accustoms himself to fraud in little things, wants only opportunity to practice it in greater.
“[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

To survive the cold winter, the soldiers had to blank themselves to the harsh climate gradually.

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Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

I shall always fear that he who accustoms himself to fraud in little things, wants only opportunity to practice it in greater.
c. 1753, John Hawkesworth et al., Adventurer
“[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
Although it might be thought that drivers would naturally refer constantly to the speedometer, older drivers who come to diesel driving after years of steam experience without the help of speedometers, as well as those on steam engines which have been equipped with speedometers in recent years, have not accustomed themselves to the constant use of this instrument.
1962 December, “Talking of Trains: Derailment at Lincoln”, in Modern Railways, page 375
He took it [a television] back to his unfurnished room and began watching as much as he could, including Ms. Winfrey’s show, to accustom his ear to hearing English.
2011 March 11, Larry Rohter, “CNN’s Latin Sister Looks to Capture a Booming Market”, in The New York Times
[…] creating 3D graphics “is a fundamental building block” to popularizing AR because it helps accustom the general public to interacting with 3D content.
2017 May 31, Jonathan Vanian, “How Microsoft Is Sowing the Seeds of an Augmented Reality Future”, in Fortune

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Origin

verb

The verb is from Middle English accustomen, from Old French acoustumer, acustumer (Modern French accoutumer) corresponding to a (“to, toward”) + custom. More at custom, costume. The noun is from Middle English acustom.

Deep Dive

verb

More examples

Related

Quick test

To survive the cold winter, the soldiers had to blank— themselves to the harsh climate gradually.

Nearby

Origin

verb

To survive the cold winter, the soldiers had to blank themselves to the harsh climate gradually.