accident

plural accidents

1. countableuncountableAn unexpected event with negative consequences occurring without the intention of the one suffering the consequences, and (in the strict sense) not directly caused by humans.

   to die by an accident such as an act of God

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   Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances, / Of moving accidents by flood and field[…]

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]

   1. countableuncountablelawcasus; such unforeseen, extraordinary, extraneous interference as is out of the range of ordinary calculation.
2. countableuncountabletransportA collision or crash of a vehicle, aircraft, or other form of transportation that causes damage to the transportation involved; and sometimes injury or death to the transportation's occupants or bystanders in close proximity. (but see Usage notes)

   There was a huge accident on I5 involving 15 automobiles.

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   My insurance went up after the second accident in three months.

   Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.

   2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist

   Five days after the accident on September 4, firefighters responded to reports of a fire near Castaic Lake. They found charred human remains at the scene, not far from where the Toyota Highlander had gone off the road.

   2026 July 18, Nicholas Muhoro, “Bryce Laspisa Vanished Near Castaic Lake After Spending 13 Hours Parked on a California Highway”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 19 Jul 2026

3. countableuncountableAny chance event.

   He also objects to the idea of women arising by an accident of nature, preferring the notion that they came about as a 'result of some strong mental impression', and so 'the sex of the progeny would have been settled by the decision of the progenitor'.

   2008, Celia Deane-Drummond, The Ethics of Nature, page 206

4. uncountableChance; random chance.

   c.1861-1863, Richard Chevenix Trench, in 1888, Letters and memorials, Volume 1, Thou cam'st not to thy place by accident, / It is the very place God meant for thee; […]

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   And so with his writing, which he proudly said was a perfect counterpart of his life. Accident played a major part in both.

   1991 Autumn, Robert M. Adams, “Montaigne”, in American Scholar, volume 60, number 4, page 589

   Synonyms: fortune

5. countableuncountableAny property, fact, or relation that is the result of chance or is nonessential or nonsubstantive.

   Beauty is an accident.

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   Lexical gaps are called accidental because their existence is by accident; it is not essential.

   This accident, as I call it, of Athens being situated some miles from the sea, which is rather the consequence of its being a very ancient site,[…]

   1883, J. P. Mahaffy, Social life in Greece from Homer to Menander

   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.

   1902, William James, “Lecture IX: Conversion”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 200

   14thC, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale in The Canterbury Tales, These cookes how they stamp, and strain, and grind, / And turne substance into accident, / To fulfill all thy likerous talent!

   But as to Man, all the Fruits of the Earth, all sorts of Herbs, Plants and Roots, the Fishes of the Sea, and the Birds of the Air do not suffice him, but he must disguise, vary, and sophisticate, change the substance into accident, that by such irritations as these, Nature might be provoked, and as it were necessitated.

   1677, chapter 3, in Heraclitus Christianus: or, the Man of Sorrow, page 14

   Synonyms: accidens

   1. countableuncountablegrammarA property attached to a word, but not essential to it, such as gender, number, or case.

      An adjective, so called because adjectitious, or added to a substantive, denotes some quality or accident of the substantive to which it is joined […]

      a 1799, John Parkhurst, A Hebrew and English lexicon without points, page 25

      Synonyms: accidens

6. countableeuphemisticuncountableAn instance of incontinence.

   We weren’t there long when Karin asked about our dog. When we told her Chris was in the car, she insisted we bring him up to the apartment. I rejected her offer and said he might have an accident on the carpet and I didn’t want to worry about it.

   2009, Marcia Stedron, My Roller Coaster Life as an Army Wife, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 56

   1. countableeuphemisticuncountableUrine or feces excreted due to incontinence.
7. countableeuphemisticuncountableAn unintended pregnancy.
   1. countablederogatoryeuphemistichumorousuncountableA person born from an unintended pregnancy.

      Taylor was our sweet little accident, and we're so glad!

8. countableobsoleteuncountableAn injury.

   The grave accidents provoked by iodine usually assume the form of œdema of the glottis.

   1892 June, “Practical Hints”, in Merck's Bulletin

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   Accident is a word which too commonly suffers a like perversion. It is used as if it meant a wound.

   [1880, Richard Grant White, Every-day English

   This little manual contains simple directions for the preliminary treatment of accidents to all parts of the body and of such diseases as persons are suddenly seized with.

   1880, New York World, quotee, “Accidents and Emergencies (advertisement)”, in School and Industrial Hygiene

9. countableuncountablegeographyAn irregular surface feature with no apparent cause.
10. countableuncountablegeographyA sudden discontinuity of ground such as fault of great thickness, bed or lentil of unstable ground.
11. countableuncountablegovernmentA point or mark which may be retained or omitted in a coat of arms.
12. countableuncountableentertainmentSynonym of accidental.

    Synonyms: accidental

1. not comparabletransportDesignating any form of transportation involved in an accident.

   The NTSB report revealed that the accident airplane was a Cessna 172.

1. A town in Garrett County, Maryland, United States.