Synonyms of accost

accost

verb

as in to confront

to approach and speak to (someone) often in an angry, aggressive, or unwanted way

He was accosted by peddlers selling touristy trinkets on the street.

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

Related Words

• confront
• approach
• encounter
• face
• dare
• meet
• front
• brave
• breast
• defy
• corner
• outface
• brazen
• face up (to)
• beard
• outbrave
• resist
• affront
• stand
• challenge
• repel
• withstand
• oppose
• contend (with)
• combat
• fight
• square (off)
• battle

Dissimilar Words

• avoid
• shun
• eschew
• evade
• escape
• elude
• shake
• dodge
• sidestep
• shirk
• duck
• funk

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of accost

Sometimes that was impossible, such as when he was accosted in a car park by Jose Mourinho and at the airport by Roma fans after the 2023 Europa League final, but not for lack of trying. — Graham Scott, New York Times, 23 July 2026

Court records show that 60-year-old Bradley Kyle Martin, of Dearborn Heights, is charged with using a computer or internet to communicate with another person to commit a crime and accosting children for immoral purposes. — Dejanay Booth-Singleton, CBS News, 25 June 2026

First accosting Zeke in the Ponderosa parking lot with a completely unsolicited offer of mentorship, George seems determined, for no apparent reason, to mold the young man in his image. — Guy Lodge, Variety, 19 June 2026

In that incident, the victim was accosted by two men who demanded valuables. — Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 31 May 2026