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ACCIDENTAL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A musical notation that makes a note sharp or flat or natural although that is not part of the key signature
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("accidental" is a kind of...):
musical notation ((music) notation used by musicians)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not of prime or central importance
Example:
the character's motives remain accidental to the plot
Synonyms:
accidental; incidental; nonessential
Classified under:
Similar:
inessential; unessential (not basic or fundamental)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Happening by chance or unexpectedly or unintentionally
Example:
an accidental shooting
Synonyms:
accidental; inadvertent
Classified under:
Similar:
unintended (not deliberate)
Derivation:
accident (anything that happens suddenly or by chance without an apparent cause)
Context examples:
The treated material is also ideal for food packaging, where it could stop the accidental transfer of bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella and listeria from raw chicken, meat and other foods.
(Scientists Create Superbug-Resistant Self-Cleaning Surface, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
They have been artificially conserved by those strange accidental conditions.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
A cataract that has been produced artificially or by induction, e.g. as a result of device use, medication, trauma, tears, falls, accidental injury, etc.
(Induced Cataract, NCI Thesaurus)
A torn, ragged, mangled wound, or an accidental cut of esophagus.
(Laceration Of Esophagus, NCI Thesaurus)
My own accidental cut across the knuckles was a flea-bite.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
It seemed at first an accidental division, but it never materially varied.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Oh! no, that must have been quite accidental.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
For Fanny, somewhat more was related than the accidental agreeableness of the parties he had been in.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
His wonder, his conjectures, and his explanations became in succession hers, with the addition of this single remark—I really have not patience with the general—to fill up every accidental pause.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Scientist Mas Subramanian of Oregon State University, who made history a decade ago with the accidental discovery of the first new blue inorganic pigment in more than two centuries, is again pushing forward the science of color.
(Chemists find path to 'new blue' in meteorite minerals, National Science Foundation)
