accidental

accidental
adjective
1)

an accidental meeting

Syn:
fortuitous, chance, adventitious, fluky, coincidental, casual, serendipitous, random; unexpected, unforeseen, unanticipated, unlooked-for, unintentional, unintended, inadvertent, unplanned, unpremeditated, unthinking, unwitting
Ant:
intentional
2)

the location is accidental and contributes nothing to the poem

Syn:
incidental, unimportant, by the way, by the by, supplementary, subsidiary, subordinate, secondary, accessory, peripheral, tangential, extraneous, extrinsic, irrelevant, nonessential, inessential
Ant:
deliberate
••
accidental, adventitious, casual, contingent, fortuitous, incidental
Things don't always go as planned, but there are many ways to describe the role that chance plays. Accidental applies to events that occur entirely by chance (an accidental encounter with the candidate outside the men's room); but it is so strongly influenced by the noun "accident" that it carries connotations of undesirable or possibly disastrous results (an accidental miscalculation of the distance he had to jump). A casual act or event is one that is random or unpremeditated (a casual conversation with her son's teacher in the grocery store), in which the role that chance plays is not always clear. Something that is incidental may or may not involve chance; it typically refers to what is secondary or nonessential (incidental expenses in the budget) or what occurs without design or regularity (incidental lighting throughout the garden). Adventitious also implies the lack of an essential relationship, referring to something that is a mere random occurrence (adventitious circumstances that led to victory). In contrast, contingent points to something that is entirely dependent on an uncertain event for its existence or occurrence (travel plans that are contingent upon the weather). Fortuitous refers to chance events of a fortunate nature; it is about as far as one can get from accidental (a fortuitous meeting with the candidate outside the men's room just before the press conference).

Thesaurus of popular words. 2014.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР
Synonyms:

Look at other dictionaries:

  • 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

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”