accidental

Fetched 2026-10-26 (cache).

Synonyms: occidental, incidental, accident, accidents, accidentals, accidently, accidented, accidentary, accidente

Antonyms: occidental, incidental, accident, accidents, accidentals, accidently, accidented, accidentary, accidente

Related words from Datamuse; suggestions, not definitions.

Adjective

1. {{senseid|en|versus the essence}} Pertaining to {{l|en|accident|id=philosophical sense, versus essence or substance}} and not {{l|en|essence}}; thus, [[inessential]]; [[incidental]]; [[secondary]]. {{defdate|from 14th c.}}
2. {{senseid|en|in music}} {{lb|en|music}} Adjusted by one or two [[semitone]]s, in temporary departure from the [[key signature]]. {{defdate|from 16th c.}}
3. {{senseid|en|occasionally and by chance}} Occurring sometimes, by chance; [[occasional]]. {{defdate|from 16th c.}}
4. {{senseid|en|unintentionally and by chance}} [[happening|Happening]] by chance, or [[unexpectedly]]; taking place not according to the usual course of things; by [[accident]], [[unintentional]]. {{defdate|from 16th c.}}
5. {{senseid|en|in math, especially geometry}} {{lb|en|geometry}} Being a double point with two distinct tangent planes in 4-dimensional projective space.

Noun

1. A property which is not essential; a [[nonessential]]; anything [[happening]] [[accidentally]].
2. {{lb|en|painting|pluralonly}} 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.
3. {{lb|en|music}} A [[sharp]], [[flat]], or [[natural]], occurring not at the [[commencement]] of a piece of music as the [[signature]], but before a particular note.
4. Part of a [[text]] that has a mainly [[structural]] purpose, such as [[spelling]], [[punctuation]]{{,}} or [[capitalization]].

Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wiktionary dump) · cached copy, not a rewrite.