accompaniment
noun/əˈkʌm.pə.ni.mənt/ · /əˈkʌmp.ni.mənt/
Etymology From French accompagnement; equivalent to accompany + -ment. First attested in 1744.
1
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music A part, usually performed by instruments, that gives support or adds to the background in music, or adds for ornamentation; also, the harmony of a figured bass.
- Brooks performed a saxophone solo on stage, with Robert as accompaniment on the bass.
2
That which accompanies; something that attends as a circumstance, or which is added to give greater completeness to the principal thing, or by way of ornament, or for the sake of symmetry.
- A side salad is a common accompaniment to a main dish.
- forecasting torrential rain, with an accompaniment of crashing thunder.
2 more examples
- Green sauce is the perfect accompaniment to baked fish.
- My audience to this not-too-easy operation was a small group of Scottish school lasses, who seemed (perhaps naturally) to find the proceedings somewhat mysterious, but at any rate amusing. I wished they would go away, but they didn't, so I had to get on with the job to the accompaniment of a background of giggles!1952 February, H. C. Casserley, “Permanent Wayfarings”, in Railway Magazine, page 77:
- Derived terms
- accompanimental, additional accompaniment, nonaccompaniment