Accessorize

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /əkˈsɛsəɹaɪz/

Definitions

1. To improve the overall look of attire or design by adding decorative items or elements that enhance its appeal
2. To add matching or decorative items to clothing or an outfit to enhance style
3. To enhance an outfit or design by including ornamental additions that complement the main elements

Etymology: The verb "accessorize" is a plain piece of word-building: it combines "accessory," an item added to a main thing for decoration or extra function, with the suffix "-ize," which turns nouns and adjectives into verbs meaning to make or provide with something. To accessorize, then, is to provide an outfit or room with accessories. The earliest recorded use dates to 1939 in American English, which places it in the decades when fashion writing and mass-market clothing were expanding the vocabulary of dressing up. The noun it grew from, "accessory," came into English from Latin "accessorius," meaning additional or contributing, and it was used for items added to a costume long before it became a verb.

Synonyms: adorn, embellish, enhance

Antonyms: devalue