accostable

English

Etymology

Originally from French accostable, in later usage partly recoined from accost +‎ -able.

Adjective

accostable (comparative more accostable, superlative most accostable)

1. (dated, uncommon) Approachable; affable; willing to be accosted.
   • 1876, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Our Old Home:

     Old soldiers, I know not why, seem to be more accostable than old sailors. One is apt to hear a growl beneath the smoothest courtesy of the latter.

   • 2019, Patrick Kasper et al., “Modeling User Dynamics in Collaboration Websites”, in Dynamics on and of Complex Networks III: Machine Learning and Statistical Physics Approaches, →ISBN, page 117:

     Online communities becoming increasingly accostable to their users does not always lead to higher overall activity.

   • 2019 September 3, Jocelyn Silver, “Renée Zellweger Says Those Mean Tweets About Her Face Made Her Stronger Than Ever”, in W:

     “I always felt that I knew what to do in those circumstances,” she continued. “I didn’t feel … accostable. I never felt that I was being insulted, demeaned. I didn’t recognize it as that. […]”

Derived terms

• unaccostable

 

Further reading

• “accostable, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

French

Etymology

From accoster +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.kɔs.tabl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

accostable (plural accostables)

1. approachable (of a person)
2. (nautical) dockable (at which you can land a boat)

Further reading

• “accostable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.