accidental
/ˌæk.sɪˈdɛn.tl̩/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.82 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Pertaining to accident and not essence; thus, inessential; incidental; secondary.
adj
Pertaining to accident and not essence; thus, inessential; incidental; secondary.
adj
Adjusted by one or two semitones, in temporary departure from the key signature.
adj
adj
Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; by accident, unintentional.
adj
Being a double point with two distinct tangent planes in 4-dimensional projective space.
noun
A property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything happening accidentally.
Example Sentences
- "It would be absurd to say that Marxism was predestined to become the ideology of the self-glorifying Russian bureaucracy. Nevertheless, it contained essential features, as opposed to accidental or secondary ones, that made it adaptable to this purpose."
- "The discovery was purely accidental."
- "He was killed by an accidental gunshot."
- "accidental damage"
- "accidental death"
- "entirely accidental"
Etymology
From Middle English accidental, from Anglo-Norman accidentel, Middle French accidentel, accidental, and their source, Late Latin accidēntālis; corresponding to accident + -al.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Inflected Forms
more accidental (comparative)
most accidental (superlative)
accidentall (alternative, obsolete)
accidentals (plural)