Accustomize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To gradually familiarize a person or animal with a situation, practice, or environment until it feels normal
2. To train or condition someone so that a particular thing becomes a usual and comfortable part of their life
3. To habituate someone to a new condition, routine, or surroundings through repeated exposure over time

Etymology: "Accustom" comes from Old French "acostumer," meaning to make someone familiar with a practice, built from the prefix "a-" ("to") and "costume," or custom. That same French noun gave English "costume," so "custom" and "costume" are doublets, two forms of one root that entered English by different routes. "Accustomize" adds the suffix "-ize," which English took through Latin from Greek and uses to form verbs from nouns and adjectives. It is essentially a variant of "accustom" with that suffix, carrying the same sense of making something familiar through habit. It is much less common than "accustom," and dictionaries generally treat it as an alternative form.