accidental
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Happening by chance.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
aksuhdehntuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
æksəˈdɛntəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; by accident, unintentional.
Occurring sometimes, by chance; occasional.
Pertaining to accident and not essence; thus, inessential; incidental; secondary.
noun
A property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything happening accidentally.
Part of a text that has a mainly structural purpose, such as spelling, punctuation, or capitalization.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; by accident, unintentional.
'Accidental' means something happened purely by chance, without anyone planning or intending it. It removes blame or foresight from the situation. It's the opposite of 'intentional' and suggests a lack of purpose.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Slightly formal
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Fortunate or pleasantly unexpected
- Usage feel
- Reflective and slightly elevated
Where you'll really hear it
Everyday conversation
“It was an accidental discovery, but very exciting.”
Legal explanations
“The jury ruled it an accidental death, not murder.”
Children's stories
“He made an accidental splash while trying to jump.”
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use accidental
- “The composer added an accidental to the score, changing the note.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An accident that results in physical damage or hurt.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.