accidental

comparative more accidental · superlative most accidental · alternative obsolete accidentall

1. Pertaining to accident and not essence; thus, inessential; incidental; secondary.First known use 14th c.

   It would be absurd to say that Marxism was predestined to become the ideology of the self-glorifying Russian bureaucracy. Nevertheless, it contained essential features, as opposed to accidental or secondary ones, that made it adaptable to this purpose.

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume III: The Breakdown, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozkład (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 161

   1. human sciencesNonessential to something's inherent nature (especially in Aristotelian thought).
2. entertainmentAdjusted by one or two semitones, in temporary departure from the key signature.First known use 16th c.
3. Occurring sometimes, by chance; occasional.First known use 16th c.
4. Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; by accident, unintentional.First known use 16th c.

   accidental death

   5 more examples

   The discovery was purely accidental.

   He was killed by an accidental gunshot.

   accidental damage

   entirely accidental

   The way to trueth is but one and simple, that of particular profit and benefit of affaires a man hath in charge, double, uneven and accidentall [translating fortuite].

   1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, Essays, translation of original in French, III.1

   Synonyms: adventitious

5. geometryBeing a double point with two distinct tangent planes in 4-dimensional projective space.

plural accidentals · alternative obsolete accidentall

1. A property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything happening accidentally.

   He conceived it just that accidentals ... should sink with the substance of the accusation.

   1662, Fuller, Worthies of England

2. pluralplural onlypaintingThose fortuitous effects produced by luminous rays falling on certain objects so that some parts stand forth in abnormal brightness and other parts are cast into a deep shadow.
3. entertainmentA sharp, flat, or natural, occurring not at the commencement of a piece of music as the signature, but before a particular note.
4. Part of a text that has a mainly structural purpose, such as spelling, punctuation, or capitalization.