accidental Hear it!

accidental Definition

ac·ci·den·tal (ak′sə dent′'l)

adjective

  1. happening by chance; fortuitous
  2. belonging but not essential; attributive; incidental
  3. Music of an accidental

Etymology: ME < LL accidentalis: see accident

noun

  1. a nonessential quality or feature
  2. Music
    1. a sign, as a sharp, flat, or natural, placed before a note to show a change of pitch from that indicated by the key signature
    2. the tone indicated by such a sign

accidental Related Forms
ac′·ci·den′·tally adverb
accidental Synonyms

accidental

modif.

  1. Happening by chance

    chance, fortuitous, coincidental, unintentional, inadvertent, unplanned, unpremeditated, undesigned, unwitting, uncalculated, unintended, unanticipated, unforeseen, unexpected, casual, adventitious, random, haphazard, involuntary, lucky, unlucky, serendipitous, fluky*; see also unexpected.

  2. Incidental

    incidental, secondary, nonessential, adventitious; see subordinate, under 3.

accidental describes that which occurs by chance an accidental encounter or outside the normal course of events an accidental attribute; fortuitous, which frequently suggests a complete absence of cause, now usually refers to chance events of a fortunate nature; casual describes the unpremeditated, random, or irregular quality of something a casual remark, a casual visit or its informality casual clothes; incidental emphasizes the nonessential or secondary nature of something incidental expenses; adventitious refers to that which is added extrinsically and connotes a lack of essential connection

accidental Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • prevent: Put a lock on the toilet to prevent accidental drowning; toddlers can drown in a few inches of water.
  • avoid: It is recommended that the battery is disconnected at all times to avoid any accidental starting of the car.
  • remove: Also use this plug-in to apply or remove accidentals to every note within a selected region and remove ties in any selected region.

Adjective modifier

  • cautionary: Editorial cautionary accidentals are given within round brackets; cautionary accidentals included in the source are reproduced without brackets.
  • editorial: Editorial cautionary accidentals are given within round brackets; cautionary accidentals included in the source are reproduced without brackets.

Modifies a noun

  • spillage: Protect work surfaces and your clothes in case of accidental spillage.
  • overdose: A month later, he was found dead in a pub car-park following an accidental overdose of heroin.
  • ingestion: Accidental ingestion of ant killers based on organic arsenic salts.
  • poisoning: Accidental poisoning will not be caught by clause 7. 39.
  • deletion: This somewhat tedious process guards against the accidental deletion of large numbers of records.
  • damage: With accidental damage my call for or credit to.

Modifying Another Word

  • purely: Is it all part of a divine plan, or is our being here a purely accidental assemblage of atoms?
  • entirely: Whatever the nature of their recent battles, the incident was entirely accidental.
  • merely: It is unlikely that such an alignment can have been merely accidental.
  • almost: How it Began Discovery of the ROC post structure was almost accidental.
  • apparently: It culminates in the apparently accidental death of the latter's baby son.
  • completely: You couldn't invent a better one, even if this was completely accidental.

Noun used with modifier

  • nothing: With respect to His prescience, there is nothing contingent; with respect to His providence, there is nothing accidental.
  • means: This comparison is by no means accidental in character.

Used with adjective complement

  • prevent: Always run cold water before the hot to prevent accidental scalding.