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

Impacciatore, squeezed into a skin-tight Power Rangers suit, performed an entire clowning routine where she’s accosted by abstract embodiments of various winter sports throughout history. —Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 7 Feb. 2026

The agent accosted and then fired on Routh, who fled in his car and was arrested a short time later. —Greg Allen, NPR, 4 Feb. 2026

Several weeks later, when one of Crow’s staffers went to the facility, following a different but related set of protocols, two conservative members of the Aurora City Council accosted him. —Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2026

The majority being accosted and disappeared are Black, Muslim, Latinx, and Asian. —Bao Phi, Time, 13 Jan. 2026

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