accidental

English

Alternative forms

• accidentall (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English accidental, from Anglo-Norman accidentel, Middle French accidentel, accidental, and their source, Late Latin accidēntālis; corresponding to accident +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌæk.sɪˈdɛn.tl̩/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛntəl

Adjective

accidental (comparative more accidental, superlative most accidental)

2. Pertaining to accident and not essence; thus, inessential; incidental; secondary. [from 14th c.]

   Hyponym: instantial

   1. (philosophy) Nonessential to something's inherent nature (especially in Aristotelian thought). [from 14th c.]
4. (music) Adjusted by one or two semitones, in temporary departure from the key signature. [from 16th c.]
6. Occurring sometimes, by chance; occasional. [from 16th c.]
8. Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; by accident, unintentional. [from 16th c.]
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, Essays, translation of original in French, III.1:

     The way to trueth is but one and simple, that of particular profit and benefit of affaires a man hath in charge, double, uneven and accidentall [translating fortuite].

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

Synonyms

• (not essential): circumstantial, incidental; See also Thesaurus:circumstantial
• (nonessential to something's inherent nature): See also Thesaurus:extrinsic
• (happening by chance): adventitious, casual, contingent, fortuitous, incidental, occasional, serendipitous; See also Thesaurus:accidental

Derived terms

• accidental abortion
• accidental chord
• accidental chords
• accidental color
• accidental colors
• accidental colour
• accidental death
• accidental gap
• accidentalism
• accidentalist
• accidental light
• accidental lights
• accidentally
• accidentalness
• accidental point
• accidental property
• nonaccidental
• pseudoaccidental
• unaccidental

 

Translations

happening by chance

• Arabic: عَرْضِيّ (ʕarḍiyy)
• Armenian: պատահական (hy) (patahakan)
• Bashkir: осраҡлы (osraqlı)
• Belarusian: выпадко́вы (vypadkóvy), неспадзява́ны (njespadzjavány) (unexpected)
• Bulgarian: случа́ен (bg) (slučáen), неоча́кван (bg) (neočákvan) (unexpected)
• Catalan: accidental (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 偶然 (zh) (ǒurán)

• Czech: nahodilý, náhodný (cs)
• Danish: tilfældig
• Dutch: toevallig (nl)
• Esperanto: neatendita, hazarda, akcidenta
• Finnish: sattumanvarainen (fi), sattumalta (fi)
• French: accidentel (fr)
• Georgian: შემთხვევითი (šemtxveviti)
• German: versehentlich (de), zufällig (de)
• Greek: τυχαίος (el) (tychaíos)

  Ancient: τυχαῖος (tukhaîos)

• Hebrew: מִקְרִי (mikrí)
• Hindi: आकस्मिक (hi) (ākasmik), संयोगी (hi) (sãyogī), आगंतुक (hi) (āgantuk), इत्तफ़ाक़िया (ittafāqiyā)
• Hungarian: véletlen (hu)
• Irish: aimseach, toirmeascach
• Italian: accidentale (it)
• Japanese: 偶然の (ja) (ぐうぜん, gūzen no)
• Korean: 우연하다 (uyeonhada), 돌발적(突發的) (ko) (dolbaljeok)
• Latin: fortuītus (la)
• Macedonian: случаен (slučaen)
• Maori: kōpeka
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tilfeldig (no)

• Persian: تصادفی (fa) (tasâdofi)
• Polish: przypadkowy (pl)
• Portuguese: acidental (pt)
• Romanian: accidental (ro), întâmplător (ro)
• Russian: случа́йный (ru) (slučájnyj), неожи́данный (ru) (neožídannyj) (unexpected)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: слу̏ча̄јан, нена́мјеран

  Roman: slȕčājan (sh), nenámjeran (sh)

• Slovak: náhodný
• Slovene: naključen
• Spanish: accidental (es), casual (es), imprevisto (es), fortuito (es)
• Swedish: tillfällig (sv)
• Tajik: тасодуфӣ (tg) (tasodufi)
• Tatar: очраклы (oçraqlı)
• Ukrainian: випадко́вий (uk) (vypadkóvyj), несподі́ваний (nespodívanyj) (unexpected)
• Urdu: حادثاتی (hādsātī), ناگہاں (nāgahā̃)
• Uzbek: tasodifiy (uz)

Noun

accidental (plural accidentals)

1. A property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything happening accidentally.
   • 1662, Fuller, Worthies of England:

     He conceived it just that accidentals ... should sink with the substance of the accusation.

2. (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.
3. (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.

   Coordinate term: substantive

Translations

a property which is not essential

• Bulgarian: несъществено качество (nesǎštestveno kačestvo)
• German: Zufall (de) m, Versehen (de) n
• Polish: wypadkowa f

(in plural, painting)

• Portuguese: acidente (pt) m

(music)

• Afrikaans: byteken
• Catalan: accident (ca) m
• Finnish: etumerkki (fi)
• French: altération (fr) f
• Greek: αλλοίωση (el) f (alloíosi)
• Hungarian: módosítójel (hu)
• Japanese: 臨時記号 (りんじきごう, rinji kigō)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: løst fortegn n

  Nynorsk: laust forteikn n

• Portuguese: acidente (pt) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} kebetulan (id)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} accidental
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} accidentale (it)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 偶然 (ja) (ぐうぜん, gūzen)

Anagrams

• calcinated

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin accidentālis.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

accidental m or f (masculine and feminine plural accidentals)

1. accidental

Derived terms

• accidentalment

Related terms

• accident

Further reading

• “accidental” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “accidental”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “accidental” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “accidental” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Fala

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /akθidenˈtal/
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ac‧ci‧den‧tal

Etymology 1

From accidenti +‎ -al.

Adjective

accidental (plural accidentais)

1. accidental

Etymology 2

From accidenti +‎ -al.

Verb

accidental

1. to have an accident

Conjugation

Conjugation of accidental (Lagarteiru)

infinitive			accidental
gerund			accidentandu
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		accidentau		accidentá
		plural		accidentaus		accidentás
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		ei	tú	el/ela	nos	vos	elis/elas
	present	accidentu	accidentas	accidenta	accidentamus	accidenteis	accidentan
	imperfect	accidentaba	accidentabas	accidentaba	accidentábamus	accidentabis	accidentaban
	preterite	accidentí	accidentastis	accidentó	accidentamus	accidentastis accidentatis	accidentorin
	future	accidentaré	accidentarás	accidentará	accidentaremus	accidentareis	accidentarán
	conditional	accidentaría	accidentarías	accidentaría	accidentaríamus	accidentaríis	accidentarían
subjunctive		ei	tú	el/ela	nos	vos	elis/elas
	present	accidenti	accidentis	accidenti	accidentemus	accidenteis	accidentin
	imperfect (ra)	accidentara	accidentaras	accidentara	accidentáramus	accidentaris	accidentaran
	imperfect (si)	accidentasi	accidentasis	accidentasi	accidentásimus	accidentasis	accidentasin
imperative		—	accidenta	—	—	accidentei	—

Conjugation of accidental (Mañegu)

infinitive			accidental
gerund			accidentandu
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		accidentau		accidentá
		plural		accidentaus		accidentás
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		ei	tú	el/ela	nos	vos	elis/elas
	present	accidentu	accidentas	accidenta	accidentamus	accidenteis	accidentan
	imperfect	accidentaba	accidentabas	accidentaba	accidentábamus	accidentabis accidentábais	accidentaban
	preterite	accidentí	accidentastis	accidentó	accidentamus	accidentastis	accidentorin
	future	accidentaré	accidentarás	accidentará	accidentaremus	accidentareis	accidentarán
	conditional	accidentaría	accidentarías	accidentaría	accidentaríamus	accidentaríis accidentaríais	accidentarían
subjunctive		ei	tú	el/ela	nos	vos	elis/elas
	present	accidenti	accidentis	accidenti	accidentemus	accidenteis	accidentin
	imperfect (ra)	accidentara	accidentaras	accidentara	accidentáramus	accidentaris accidentarais	accidentaran
	imperfect (si)	accidentasi	accidentasis	accidentasi	accidentásimus	accidentasis accidentaseis	accidentasin
imperative		—	accidenta	—	—	accidentei	—

Conjugation of accidental (Valverdeñu)

infinitive			accidental
gerund			accidentandu
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		accidentau		accidentá
		plural		accidentaus		accidentás
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		ei	tú	el/ela	nos	vos	elis/elas
	present	accidentu	accidentas	accidenta	accidentamus	accidentais	accidentan
	imperfect	accidentaba	accidentabas	accidentaba	accidentábamus	accidentábais	accidentaban
	preterite	accidentí	accidentastis	accidentó	accidentimus	accidentasteis	accidentaran
	future	accidentaré	accidentarás	accidentará	accidentaremus	accidentareis	accidentarán
	conditional	accidentaría	accidentarías	accidentaría	accidentaríamus	accidentaríais	accidentarían
subjunctive		ei	tú	el/ela	nos	vos	elis/elas
	present	accidenti	accidentis	accidenti	accidentemus	accidenteis	accidentin
	imperfect (ra)	accidentara	accidentaras	accidentara	accidentáramus	accidentarais	accidentaran
	imperfect (si)	accidentasi	accidentasis	accidentasi	accidentásimus	accidentaseis	accidentasin
imperative		—	accidenta	—	—	accidentei	—

References

• Valeš, Miroslav (2021) Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web)‎^[1], 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French accidentel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ak.t͡ʃi.denˈtal/

Adjective

accidental m or n (feminine singular accidentală, masculine plural accidentali, feminine and neuter plural accidentale)

1. accidental

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	accidental		accidentală		accidentali	accidentale
	definite	accidentalul		accidentala		accidentalii	accidentalele
genitive- dative	indefinite	accidental		accidentale		accidentali	accidentale
	definite	accidentalului		accidentalei		accidentalelor	accidentalilor

Related terms

• accident

Scots

Adjective

accidental (comparative mair accidental, superlative maist accidental)

1. accidental

References

• Eagle, Andy, editor (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin accidēntālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /aɡθidenˈtal/ [aɣ̞.θi.ð̞ẽn̪ˈt̪al]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /aɡsidenˈtal/ [aɣ̞.si.ð̞ẽn̪ˈt̪al]

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ac‧ci‧den‧tal

Adjective

accidental m or f (masculine and feminine plural accidentales)

1. accidental
2. nonessential

Derived terms

• accidentalidad
• accidentalmente

 

Related terms

• accidente

 

Noun

accidental m (plural accidentales)

1. (music) accidental

   Synonym: accidente

Further reading

• “accidental”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10