Accoutrement

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Grammarist

An accoutrement  is a clothing or equipment accessory. It can be specific to an activity, therefore is similar to paraphernalia. The plural is accoutrements.

Accoutrement is a derivative of the word accoutrer, a verb which meant to clothe or equip. One of the archaic defintions of accoutrement, is the act of accoutring, or clothing or equiping something or someone.

The French pronunciation is ackoo-truh-mahn, but the word has been adopted into the English language for centuries, so the anglicized pronunciation ackoo-treh-ment.

Examples

You could live in the inner city in an apartment shaped by clean, minimalist European lines and immerse yourself within the cultural delights of the city’s finest institutions and cultural accoutrement. [The Australian]

The imagery links together the bridge, among the highest achievements of ‘masculine’ engineering, with the tiara, that accoutrement of ‘femininity’ which bridges the brow of a queen. [The Telegraph]

A nation further asks: Which ballplayer chose for his photo an accoutrement that might be referred to as “fashionable yet protective rifle range eyewear from the Lee Majors Collection”? [CBS Sports]

The American actor played the Baker Street detective on stage approximately 1300 times following his 1899 debut. He is credited with originating the detective’s trademark accoutrements, such as the deerstalker hat—a sartorial choice that’s alive and well in BenedictCumberbatch’s current depiction of the character. [CBC]

Those roles – from piano lessons to being accoutred in tweeds and button-down long sleeves, just like the British brats in Brideshead Revisited – of course came with a flood of “whys” about why my family was the way it was. [Mail & Guardian]