Meaning & use
accustom
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To make yourself familiar with something through habit or repeated experience, so it no longer feels strange.
Grammar: Almost always reflexive: accustom yourself to the noise, not usually 'I accustom the noise.'
Patterns
- accustom yourself to something
- accustom yourself to doing something
- accustom oneself to change
It took me weeks to accustom myself to waking at dawn.
Travelers slowly accustom themselves to the altitude.
verbtransitiveformalrare
To cause someone to become familiar with something through repeated experience.
Grammar: Takes an object before to: accustom new staff to the system; common in formal writing.
Patterns
- accustom someone to something
- accustom new employees to the routine
The trainer accustomed the recruits to the equipment.
Parents try to accustom children to regular bedtimes.
Word forms
| third person singular | accustoms |
|---|---|
| past tense | accustomed |
| past participle | accustomed |
| -ing form | accustoming |
Common combinations
- accustom yourself to doing something
- She accustomed herself to commuting by train.
- accustom your eyes to something
- He waited in the doorway to accustom his eyes to the dark.
- become accustomed over time
- The body becomes accustomed to regular exercise.
- hard to accustom yourself to
- It was hard to accustom himself to the new schedule.
Synonyms and how they differ
- familiarize
- Familiarize is the everyday transitive verb, often 'familiarize yourself with'; accustom stresses getting used to something continuing.
- habituate
- Habituate is more formal and technical, often about animals or repeated response.
- adapt
- Adapt means change your behavior to fit conditions; accustom means growing comfortable through exposure.
Word family
- accustomed adjective
- familiar through regular experience; often 'accustomed to'.
- custom noun
- an established usual way of doing something.
- customary adjective
- usual or according to custom.
Commonly confused: accustom or accustomed? accustom or custom?
accustom vs accustomed
Accustomed is the adjective meaning 'used to'; accustom is the verb meaning 'make used to.'
accustom vs custom
Custom is the noun for usual practice; accustom is the verb built on the same root.
Practice
Choose the correct pattern: After the move, he had to accustom himself ___ the cold winters.
Choose one answer.
Accustom takes 'to': accustom yourself to something. 'With' and 'for' are tempting prepositions but are not used with this verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “accustom”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.