accidental

accidental
I. adjective Date: 14th century 1. arising from extrinsic causes ; incidental, nonessential 2. a. occurring unexpectedly or by chance b. happening without intent or through carelessness and often with unfortunate results • accidentally also accidently adverbaccidentalness noun Synonyms: accidental, fortuitous, casual, contingent mean not amenable to planning or prediction. accidental stresses chance <
any resemblance to actual persons is entirely accidental
>
. fortuitous so strongly suggests chance that it often connotes entire absence of cause <
a series of fortuitous events
>
. casual stresses lack of real or apparent premeditation or intent <
a casual encounter with a stranger
>
. contingent suggests possibility of happening but stresses uncertainty and dependence on other future events for existence or occurrence <
the contingent effects of the proposed law
>
. II. noun Date: 1651 1. a nonessential property 2. a. a note foreign to a key indicated by a signature b. a prefixed sign indicating an accidental

New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.

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  • Accidental — Ac ci*den tal, a. [Cf. F. accidentel, earlier accidental.] 1. Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; casual; fortuitous; as, an accidental visit. [1913 Webster] 2. Nonessential; not… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • accidental — ACCIDENTÁL, Ă, accidentali, e, adj. Întâmplător; incidental. ♦ Secundar, neesenţial. – Din fr. accidentel. Trimis de ana zecheru, 29.07.2002. Sursa: DEX 98  ACCIDENTÁL adj. 1. v. întâmplător. 2. neesenţial, secundar. (Un aspect accidental al… …   Dicționar Român

  • accidental — accidental, casual, fortuitous, contingent, incidental, adventitious. The last five of these words are synonyms of accidental but not always of one another. Accidental denotes simply either happening by chance {an accidental meeting} or not of… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • accidental — adjetivo 1. Que no es esencial: asunto accidental, materia accidental. 2. Que ocurre al margen de lo acostumbrado, establecido o previsto: Fue un encuentro accidental, totalmente casual. 3. [Cargo] que tiene carácter provisional o interino:… …   Diccionario Salamanca de la Lengua Española

  • Accidental — may mean: * Accidental (music) * Accidental (album) , by Fred Frith * Accidental (biology), see Vagrancy (biology) * Accidental propertyee also* Accident …   Wikipedia

  • accidental — [ak΄sə dent′ l] adj. [ME < LL accidentalis: see ACCIDENT] 1. happening by chance; fortuitous 2. belonging but not essential; attributive; incidental 3. Music of an accidental n. 1. a nonessential quality or feature 2 …   English World dictionary

  • accidental — (Del lat. accidentālis). 1. adj. No esencial. 2. Casual, contingente. 3. Dicho de un cargo: Que se desempeña con carácter provisional. Director, secretario accidental. 4. Dicho de una sociedad: Que se establece sin formalidad jurídica. 5. Rel. Se …   Diccionario de la lengua española

  • accidental — I adjective adventitious, casual, chance, coincidental, extrinsic, fortuitous, inadvertent, incidental, indeterminate, undesigned, undetermined, unexpected, unforeseen, unintended, unintentional, unpremeditated, unwitting associated concepts:… …   Law dictionary

  • Accidental — Ac ci*den tal, n. 1. A property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything happening accidentally. [1913 Webster] He conceived it just that accidentals . . . should sink with the substance of the accusation. Fuller. [1913 Webster] 2. pl.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Accidental — (v. lat.), zufällig; Accidentales Einkommen, so v.w. Accidenzien; Accidentales seröses Gewebe, Neubildung seröser, mit Flüssigkeiten gefüllter Kapseln an Stellen, wo durch Reibung u. Druck Schmelzung von Zellgewebszellen u. eine Glättung der sich …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • accidental — [adj] happening unexpectedly adventitious, casual, chance, coincidental, contingent, fluky*, fortuitous, inadvertent, incidental, random, uncalculated, unexpected, unforeseen, unintended, unintentional, unplanned; concepts 530,552 Ant. decided,… …   New thesaurus

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