appurtenance
/əˈpɜr tn əns/
appurtenance means that which appertains to something else; a belonging, accompaniment, adjunct, appendage, attribute, or accessory ; an addition. It carries an Arena rating of 1408, earned across 8 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, appurtenance ranks #1,648 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #1,930 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #3,423 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #3,943 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
appurtenance is pronounced /əˈpɜr tn əns/.
Why “appurtenance” is a great word
Something that belongs to or is associated with a principal thing, especially as a subordinate right, possession, or piece of equipment. From Middle English *appurtenaunce*, through Anglo-Norman *apurtenance* and Old French *apartenance*, from *apartenir* ("to appertain"), from Latin *appertineō* ("to belong to"). Unlike “accessory,” which suggests a decorative or optional attachment, or “possession,” a broad term for any owned thing, an appurtenance carries the weight of legal necessity and functional dependence. It is the right-of-way that passes with the deed, the ancient well inseparable from the farm, the rusted barn key on its dedicated hook—the silent, subordinate fixtures that tether an estate to its history and use, binding one thing irrevocably to another.
Etymology
From Middle English appurtenaunce, from Anglo-Norman apurtenance and Old French apartenance, from apartenir, from Latin appertineō (“to belong, to appertain”). More at appertain. By surface analysis, appertain + -ance.
noun
- That which appertains to something else; a belonging, accompaniment, adjunct, appendage, attribute, or accessory ; an addition.e.g.“Indeed, that was as it should be; for she was only an appurtenance of my mattress, or self-acting bedstead on four castors.” — 1879, Robert Louis Stevenson, “[Velay.] .”, in Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC, page 17:
- Equipment used for some specific task; gear.
- A subordinate interest in land which benefits a principal estate, which cannot be detached from or held separately to that estate; an appurtenant interest.e.g.“It is well settled that a water right may pass with land as an appurtenance thereto, or as a parcel thereof.” — 1908, Samuel Charles Wiel, Water Rights in the Western States, page 340:
- A modifier that is appended or prepended to another word to coin a new word that expresses belonging.
- The state or quality of being an appurtenance.e.g.“Thus, these two characteristics — appurtenance and the lack of need for any act of acquisition - go together and depend upon each other; one is merely looking at different facets of the same thing.” — 1970, United States. Congress. Senate. Interior and Insular Affairs, Outer Continental Shelf, page 275:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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