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accidental

/ˌæk.sɪ.ˈdɛn.tl̩/

noun

Meaning

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

  • 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.

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

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

adjective

Meaning

  • Not essential; incidental, secondary.

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

  • Adjusted by one or two semitones, in temporary departure from the key signature.

  • Occurring sometimes, by chance; occasional.

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

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

Synonyms

adventitious,
casual,
contingent,
fortuitous,
incidental,
occasional,
serendipitous,
circumstantial,
incidental