accost

To accost is to approach someone aggressively or confront them in an inappropriate way.

Accost describes a confrontation — one that's often aggressive in nature. You're likely to be accosted by angry picketers if you wear your finest fur coat to a march against animal cruelty. The paparazzi make their living by accosting celebrities, pushing in close to snap candid photos as the stars leave their limos.

Definitions of accost
  1. verb
    speak to someone
    synonyms: address, come up to
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    types:
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    greet, recognise, recognize
    express greetings upon meeting someone
    approach
    make advances to someone, usually with a proposal or suggestion
    hit
    pay unsolicited and usually unwanted sexual attention to
    shake hands
    take someone's hands and shake them as a gesture of greeting or congratulation
    bob, curtsy
    make a curtsy; usually done only by girls and women; as a sign of respect
    salute
    greet in a friendly way
    present, salute
    recognize with a gesture prescribed by a military regulation; assume a prescribed position
    salute
    honor with a military ceremony, as when honoring dead soldiers
    hail, herald
    greet enthusiastically or joyfully
    receive, welcome
    bid welcome to; greet upon arrival
    say farewell
    say good-bye or bid farewell
    bid, wish
    invoke upon
    type of:
    come, come up
    move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
  2. verb
    approach with an offer of sexual favors
    synonyms: hook, solicit
    hook, snare
    entice and trap
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    type of:
    offer
    make available or accessible, provide or furnish
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