accord

Pluralaccords

Formsaccords, according, accorded

1. 1
   international dealnouncountable

   A formal agreement reached between nations or governments.

   The two governments finalized a climate accord after months of negotiation.

   The accord committed both parties to gradual disarmament.

   UsageCountries reach, sign or break an accord; in names it is capitalized, often plural: the Camp David Accords.

   Similartreaty, agreement, pact, convention

   Note

   In diplomacy the word often sits inside a name, capitalized, and it can turn plural when one negotiation yields several texts: the Camp David Accords, signed in 1978, were a pair of agreements. An accord need not be the final step. The second of those agreements led directly to the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, so accord and treaty can name different stages of one settlement. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The Camp David Accords were signed in 1978. history.state.gov
   • The Camp David Accords consisted of two agreements. en.wikipedia.org
   • The second agreement led directly to the Egypt–Israel peace treaty of 1979. en.wikipedia.org
2. 2
   grantverbtransitive

   To grant or award something as suitable or proper; to concede.

   Courts must accord every defendant a fair trial.

   The treaty accords foreign investors the same status as locals.

   UsageAccord someone a right, or accord a right to someone; often passive: she was accorded full honors.

   Similargrant, render

   Oppositedeny, withhold, refuse

   Note

   The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees says a refugee "shall be accorded" the same protection "as is accorded to nationals." Render is a close synonym, and both suggest giving what is fitting or proper. Shelley stretches it to the "boon of senseless death."

3. 3
   free willnoununcountable

   A voluntary or spontaneous impulse to act on one's own initiative.

   He apologized of his own accord, without any prompting.

   The volunteers stayed late of their own accord to finish the job.

   UsageAlmost always in the phrase of one's own accord, with a possessive: of her own accord, of its own accord.

   Similarvolition

   Note

   The King James Bible of 1611 already applies it to crops, "that which groweth of it owne accord," so the subject need not be a person; a door can swing open of its own accord.

4. 4
   in agreementnoununcountable

   Agreement or harmony, whether in people's opinions or actions or between things.

   For once, the two parties were in complete accord about how to spend the budget.

   Their views slowly came into accord after the long debate.

   UsageUsually in accord (with someone or something); with one accord means all together.

   Similarharmony

   Oppositediscord

   Note

   The core noun came through Old French acort from the verb acorder. That verb goes back to Latin concordāre, whose root is distantly related to English heart, so to be in accord is, at bottom, to be of one heart. The King James Bible of 1611 has the disciples continuing "with one accord," a phrase still used for a group acting unanimously. Things can be in accord too, as when two sets of figures agree. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • The noun came through Old French acort, derived from acorder. en.wiktionary.org
   • Old French acorder ultimately derives from Latin concordāre. en.wiktionary.org
   • The word's root is distantly related to English heart. en.wiktionary.org
   • The underlying etymological image is hearts together, paraphrased as being of one heart. en.wiktionary.org
   • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. en.wikipedia.org
   • Acts describes the disciples continuing “with one accord.” en.wikisource.org
5. 5
   verbintransitive

   To agree or correspond; to be in harmony with something else, including in sound.

   The witness's account does not accord with the physical evidence.

   These results accord well with findings from earlier studies.

   UsageUsually accord with something, as in results that accord with earlier findings; more formal than agree.

   Note

   The everyday construction takes with: results accord with earlier findings, and an account accords with the evidence. Older writers also used to, as in Milton's "Thy actions to thy words accord" in Paradise Regain'd (1671). Tennyson still writes "mind and soul, according well" in In Memoriam (1850).

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