different between accustomed vs fixed

English

Etymology

accustom +? -ed

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?.?k?s.t?md/
• Hyphenation: ac?cus?tomed

Adjective

accustomed (comparative more accustomed, superlative most accustomed)

1. (of a person) Familiar with something through repeated experience; adapted to existing conditions.

   accustomed to walking long distances

   accustomed to cold

   • 1484, William Caxton (translator), The Book of the Subtyl Historyes and Fables of Esope, “The v fable is of the Foxe and of the busshe,”^[1]

     And ther fore men ought not to helpe them whiche ben acustomed to doo euylle

   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Henry Cripps, Partition 1, Section 2, Member 2, Subsection 3, p. 99,^[2]

     Such things as we haue beene long accustomed to, though they be evill in their owne nature; yet they are lesse offensiue.

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, London: T. Egerton, Volume III, Chapter 14,^[3]

     “Miss Bennet, do you know who I am? I have not been accustomed to such language as this.”

   • 1904, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Missing Three-Quarter” in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York: McClure, Phillips & Co., 1905, p. 294,^[4]

     Young Overton’s face assumed the bothered look of the man who is more accustomed to using his muscles than his wits […]

   • 1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, New York: Scribner, Book One, Chapter 2, p. 64,^[5]

     None of the Victorian mothers—and most of the mothers were Victorian—had any idea how casually their daughters were accustomed to be kissed.

2. (of a thing, condition, activity, etc.) Familiar through use; usual; customary.
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5,^[6]

     It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus washing her hands: I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Dublin: John Smith, Volume 1, Book 4, Chapter 9, p. 170,^[7]

     Molly had no sooner apparelled herself in her accustomed Rags, than her Sisters began to fall violently upon her […]

   • 1812, Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto 2, Stanza 72, in The Poetical Works of Lord Byron, Boston: Cummings & Hilliard, 1814, Volume I, p. 249,^[8]

     Who now shall lead thy scatter’d children forth,

     And long-accustom’d bondage uncreate?

   • 1912, Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali, London: The India Society, Section 63, p. 37,^[9]

     I am uneasy at heart when I have to leave my accustomed shelter; I forget that there abides the old in the new, and that there also thou abidest.

3. (obsolete) Frequented by customers.
   • 1778, Tobias Smollett (translator), The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane by Alain-René Lesage, London: S. Crowder et al., Volume I, Chapter 7, p. 148,^[10]

     There I got a place on the same terms as at Segovia, in a well accustomed shop, much frequented on account of the neighbourhood of the church of Santa Cruz, and the Prince’s theatre […]

   • 1817, Seth William Stevenson^[11], Journal of a Tour through Part of France, Flanders, and Holland, Norwich: for the author, Chapter 21, p. 283,^[12]

     The pompous hotel is a lone cottage of very mean appearance, on the road side, and I will be sworn, was but an ill-accustomed Inn, until those renowned Generals justly gave it a licence.

Usage notes

When referring to a person, accustomed is only used predicatively; when referring to a thing, it is only used attributively. The use of the infinitive following accustomed (e.g. accustomed to do) is obsolete; in contemporary English, the gerund is used in this context (e.g. accustomed to doing).

Synonyms

• (familiar through repeated experience): habituated, inured, used to, wonted

Translations

Verb

accustomed

1. simple past tense and past participle of accustom

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?kst/
• Rhymes: -?kst

Verb

fixed

1. simple past tense and past participle of fix

Adjective

fixed (comparative more fixed, superlative most fixed)

1. Not changing, not able to be changed, staying the same.

   fixed assets

   I work fixed hours for a fixed salary.

   Every religion has its own fixed ideas.

   He looked at me with a fixed glare.

2. Stationary.
3. Attached; affixed.
5. Chemically stable.
6. Supplied with what one needs.

   She's nicely fixed after two divorce settlements.

7. (law) Of sound, recorded on a permanent medium.

   In the United States, recordings are only granted copyright protection when the sounds in the recording were fixed and first published on or after February 15, 1972.

8. (dialectal, informal) Surgically rendered infertile (spayed, neutered or castrated).

   a fixed tomcat; the she-cat has been fixed

9. Rigged; fraudulently prearranged.
10. (of a problem) Resolved; corrected.
11. Repaired

Synonyms

• (not able to be changed, staying the same): stable, immobile

Antonyms

• (not able to be changed, staying the same): mobile

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• broken
• crooked
• bribe

Anagrams

• defix