accidental

noun

A property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything happening accidentally.

(music) A sharp, flat, or natural, occurring not at the commencement of a piece of music as the signature, but before a particular note.

(painting, plural only) Those fortuitous effects produced by luminous rays falling on certain objects so that some parts stand forth in abnormal brightness and other parts are cast into a deep shadow.

Part of a text that has a mainly structural purpose, such as spelling, punctuation, or capitalization.

adjective

Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; by accident, unintentional.

Occurring sometimes, by chance; occasional.

Pertaining to accident and not essence; thus, inessential; incidental; secondary.

(philosophy) Nonessential to something's inherent nature (especially in Aristotelian thought).

(music) Adjusted by one or two semitones, in temporary departure from the key signature.

(geometry) Being a double point with two distinct tangent planes in 4-dimensional projective space.

Roots

cadocid- · Latin · fall

Words related to accidental

fortuityn fortuitousnessn intentionaladj mishapn adventitiouslyadv fortuitismn unintentionallyadv unpreventableadj misadventuren inadvertencen circumstantiallyadv mischancen fatalityn accidencen nonfataladj inadvertentlyadv spontaneousadj bechancev coincidencen

Synonyms & related words for accidental

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of accidental — including inadvertent, incidental, unintentional, unintended, fortuitous, accidentally. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to accidental

Explore words related to accidental — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include fortuity, fortuitousness, intentional, mishap, adventitiously, fortuitism, unintentionally, unpreventable. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for accidental

Common synonyms for accidental include inadvertent, incidental, unintentional, unintended, fortuitous, accidentally, unplanned, coincidental — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does accidental come from?

The word accidental breaks down into one root of Latin origin: the root cid-, from Latin cado (“fall”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.