adventitious

What it means

1. From an external source; not innate or inherent, foreign.

   Synonyms: extrinsic, exogenous

2. Accidental, additional, appearing casually.

   In a triad of verbs that admits nothing adventitious, Judah sees, takes, and lies with a woman; […]

   1981, Robert Alter, “A Literary Approach to the Bible”, in The Art of Biblical Narrative, page 6

   2 more examples

   The discovery of the art of making pottery was probably in all cases adventitious, the clay being first used for some other purpose.

   1895, Alfred C. Haddon, Evolution in Art, pages 101–102

   The adventitious disappearance of those nearer the throne than the duke had, moreover, set tongues awagging.

   2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 30

   Synonyms: accidental, spontaneous, sporadic, incidental, coincidental, fortuitous, serendipitous, accidental

3. biologyNot congenital; acquired.

   Synonyms: acquired

In a sentence

In a triad of verbs that admits nothing adventitious, Judah sees, takes, and lies with a woman; […]

1981, Robert Alter, “A Literary Approach to the Bible”, in The Art of Biblical Narrative, page 6

Where it comes from

1. Latinadventīcius“foreign, strange, accidental”
2. Medieval Latinadventītius“coming from abroad, extraneous”
3. Englishadventitious

From Medieval Latin adventītius (“coming from abroad, extraneous”), a corruption of Latin adventīcius (“foreign, strange, accidental”), from adventus (“arrival, coming, approach, advent”) + -īcius (suffix forming adjectives), from adveniō (“to arrive”) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns).