accessory vs adjunct

accessory

noun
  • Something that belongs to part of another main thing; something additional and subordinate, an attachment. 

  • Something in a work of art without being indispensably necessary, for example solely ornamental parts. 

  • An article that completes one's basic outfit, such as a scarf or gloves. 

  • A person who is not present at a crime, but contributes to it as an assistant or instigator. 

adj
  • Having a secondary, supplementary or subordinate function by accompanying as a subordinate; aiding in a secondary way; being additional; contributing or being contributory. Said of things and actions, very rarely of people (and then usually in a humorous version of the legal sense [or due to confusion between the noun and the adjective]). 

  • Assisting a crime without actually participating in committing the crime itself; being connected as an incident or subordinate to a principal. 

  • Present in a minor amount, and not essential. 

adjunct

noun
  • An appendage; something attached to something else in a subordinate capacity. 

  • An unmalted grain or grain product that supplements the main mash ingredient. 

  • A dispensable phrase in a clause or sentence that modifies its meaning. 

  • A constituent which is both the daughter and the sister of an X-bar. 

  • Symploce. 

  • One of a pair of morphisms which relate to each other through a pair of adjoint functors. 

  • A person associated with another, usually in a subordinate position; a colleague. 

  • A key or scale closely related to another as principal; a relative or attendant key. 

adj
  • Added to a faculty or staff in a secondary position. 

  • Connected in a subordinate function. 

How often have the words accessory and adjunct occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )