accident

Definition of accident

Etymology

French accident, from Latin accīdēns, -dentis, present participle of accīdō ("to happen"); ad + cadere ("to fall").

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈæk.sə.dənt/, SAMPA: /"{k.s@.d@nt/
• Audio (US) ^[?]

Noun

accident (plural accidents)

1. Literally, a befalling; an event that takes place without one's foresight or expectation; an undesigned, sudden, and unexpected event; often, an undesigned and unforeseen occurrence of an afflictive or unfortunate character
   
   to die by an accident
   
   
   * Shakespeare, Othello, I-iii:
   Of moving accidents by flood and field.
   
   * Trench:
   Thou cam'st not to thy place by accident: It is the very place God meant for thee.
   
   
2. (grammar) A property attached to a word, but not essential to it, as gender, number, case.
3. (military) An unplanned event that results in injury (including death) or occupational illness to person(s) and/or damage to property, exclusive of injury and/or damage caused by action of an enemy or hostile force.
4. (heraldry) A point or mark which may be retained or omitted in a coat of arms
5. (logic) A quality or attribute in distinction from the substance, as sweetness, softness.
   
   * 1902, William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Folio Society 2008, p. 171:
   If they went through their growth-crisis in other faiths and other countries, although the essence of the change would be the same [...], its accidents would be different.
   
   
6. Any accidental property, fact, or relation; an accidental or nonessential
   
   Beauty is an accident.
   
   * J. P. Mahaffy:
   This accident, as I call it, of Athens being situated some miles from the sea.
   
   
7. (obsolete) Unusual appearance or effect - Geoffrey Chaucer
8. (law) casus; such unforeseen, extraordinary, extraneous interference as is out of the range of ordinary calculation.
9. (transport) An unintended collision or event that causes damage or death.
   
   There was a huge accident on I5 involving 15 automobiles.
   My insurance is expenive now, mostly because of those two accidents.

Synonyms

• (event that takes place without foresight or expectation): befalling, chance, contingency, casualty, mishap

Derived terms

• accidental
• freak accident

Related terms

• accidentally

External links

• accident in Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• accident in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• accident at OneLook Dictionary Search