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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

accident.

An 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.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈæk.sɪ.dənt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈæk.sə.dənt/General-American/ˈæk.sɪ.dənt/General-American/-dɛnt/General-American
  1. An 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.

    countable · uncountable
    to die by an accident such as an act of God
  2. An 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. casus; such unforeseen, extraordinary, extraneous interference as is out of the range of ordinary calculation.

    countable · uncountable
  3. A 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)

    countable · uncountable
    There was a huge accident on I5 involving 15 automobiles.
    My insurance went up after the second accident in three months.
  4. Any chance event.

    countable · uncountable
  5. Chance; random chance.

    uncountable
  6. Any property, fact, or relation that is the result of chance or is nonessential or nonsubstantive.

    countable · uncountable
    Beauty is an accident.
    Lexical gaps are called accidental because their existence is by accident; it is not essential.
  7. Any property, fact, or relation that is the result of chance or is nonessential or nonsubstantive. A property attached to a word, but not essential to it, such as gender, number, or case.

    countable · uncountable
  8. An instance of incontinence.

    countable · euphemistic · uncountable
  9. An instance of incontinence. Urine or feces excreted due to incontinence.

    countable · euphemistic · uncountable
  10. An unintended pregnancy.

    countable · euphemistic · uncountable
  11. An unintended pregnancy. A person born from an unintended pregnancy.

    countable · derogatory · euphemistic · humorous · uncountable
    Taylor was our sweet little accident, and we're so glad!
  12. An injury.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  13. An irregular surface feature with no apparent cause.

    countable · uncountable
  14. A sudden discontinuity of ground such as fault of great thickness, bed or lentil of unstable ground.

    countable · uncountable
  15. A point or mark which may be retained or omitted in a coat of arms.

    countable · uncountable
  16. Synonym of accidental.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *ḱad- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *ḱádeti Proto-Italic *kadō Latin cadō Latin accidō Proto-Indo-European *-onts Latin -ns Latin accidēnslbor. Old French accidentbor. Middle English accident English accident First attested in the late 14th century. From Middle English accident, from Old French accident, from Latin accidēns, present active participle of accidō (“happen”); from ad (“to”) + cadō (“fall”). See cadence, case. In the sense “unintended pregnancy”, first attested in 1932.

adj/ˈæk.sɪ.dənt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈæk.sə.dənt/General-American/ˈæk.sɪ.dənt/General-American/-dɛnt/General-American
  1. Designating any form of transportation involved in an accident.

    not-comparable
    The NTSB report revealed that the accident airplane was a Cessna 172.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *ḱad- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *ḱádeti Proto-Italic *kadō Latin cadō Latin accidō Proto-Indo-European *-onts Latin -ns Latin accidēnslbor. Old French accidentbor. Middle English accident English accident First attested in the late 14th century. From Middle English accident, from Old French accident, from Latin accidēns, present active participle of accidō (“happen”); from ad (“to”) + cadō (“fall”). See cadence, case. In the sense “unintended pregnancy”, first attested in 1932.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.