accompany

Accompany is a verb with several related senses. It most commonly means to go with someone or to escort them, as in "She accompanied him to the door." It can also mean to occur with something else, for example, "Thunder accompanied the storm." In music, accompany means to provide the instrumental or vocal background for a principal melody, such as when a pianist accompanies a singer.

Accompany is typically transitive and requires a direct object. It is followed by a prepositional complement to specify what is provided or where one goes: "to accompany someone to a place" or "to accompany a dish with wine." The phrase "accompanied by" is widely used to describe things that occur together, such as "The meal was accompanied by a white wine."

Noun forms include accompaniment, which means the act or result of accompanying, or the thing that accompanies, and accompanist, the person who accompanies, especially a pianist or guitarist. The term is also used in music to refer to the background part itself.

Etymology: from Old French acompaigner, from a- (toward) and compagnie (company), ultimately from Latin companio. See also related terms: companion, accompaniment, accompanist.