# accidental
## English
### Alternative forms

* accidentall (obsolete)

### Etymology

From Middle English accidental, from Anglo-Norman accidentel, Middle French accidentel, accidental, and their source, Late Latin accidēntālis; corresponding to accident +‎ -al.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˌæk.sɪˈdɛn.tl̩/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (Received Pronunciation):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛntəl
* Hyphenation: ac‧ci‧den‧tal

### Adjective

accidental (comparative more accidental, superlative most accidental)
* Pertaining to accident and not essence; thus, inessential; incidental; secondary. [from 14th c.]
    Hyponym: instantial
** (philosophy) Nonessential to something's inherent nature (especially in Aristotelian thought). [from 14th c.]
* (music) Adjusted by one or two semitones, in temporary departure from the key signature. [from 16th c.]
* Occurring sometimes, by chance; occasional. [from 16th c.]
* Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; by accident, unintentional. [from 16th c.]
** 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, Essays, translation of original in French, III.1: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].
* (geometry) Being a double point with two distinct tangent planes in 4-dimensional projective space.

#### Synonyms

* (not essential): circumstantial, incidental; See also Thesaurus:circumstantial
* (nonessential to something's inherent nature): See also Thesaurus:extrinsic
* (happening by chance): adventitious, casual, contingent, fortuitous, incidental, occasional, serendipitous; See also Thesaurus:accidental

#### Derived terms

* accidental abortion
* accidental chord
* accidental chords
* accidental color
* accidental colors
* accidental colour
* accidental death
* accidental gap
* accidentalism
* accidentalist
* accidental light
* accidental lights
* accidentally
* accidentalness
* accidental point
* accidental property
* nonaccidental
* pseudoaccidental
* unaccidental

#### Translations
### Noun

accidental (plural accidentals)
* A property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything happening accidentally.
** 1662, Fuller, Worthies of England:He conceived it just that accidentals ... should sink with the substance of the accusation.
* (painting, plural only) Those 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.
* (music) A sharp, flat, or natural, occurring not at the commencement of a piece of music as the signature, but before a particular note.
* Part of a text that has a mainly structural purpose, such as spelling, punctuation, or capitalization.
    Coordinate term: substantive

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Anagrams

* calcinated

## Catalan
### Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin accidentālis.

### Pronunciation

* Rhymes: -al

### Adjective

accidental m or f (masculine and feminine plural accidentals)
* accidental

#### Derived terms

* accidentalment

#### Related terms

* accident

### Further reading

* “accidental” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “accidental”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “accidental” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “accidental” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## Fala
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /akθidenˈtal/
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: ac‧ci‧den‧tal

### Etymology 1

From accidenti +‎ -al.

#### Adjective

accidental (plural accidentais)
* accidental

### Etymology 2

From accidenti +‎ -al.

#### Verb

accidental
* to have an accident

##### Conjugation
### References

* Valeš, Miroslav (2021) Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web)‎, 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French accidentel.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ak.t͡ʃi.denˈtal/

### Adjective

accidental m or n (feminine singular accidentală, masculine plural accidentali, feminine and neuter plural accidentale)
* accidental

#### Related terms

* accident

## Scots
### Adjective

accidental (comparative mair accidental, superlative maist accidental)
* accidental

### References

* Eagle, Andy, editor (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.

## Spanish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin accidēntālis.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Spain) /aɡθidenˈtal/ [aɣ̞.θi.ð̞ẽn̪ˈt̪al]
* IPA: (Latin America, Philippines) /aɡsidenˈtal/ [aɣ̞.si.ð̞ẽn̪ˈt̪al]
* Audio (Venezuela):(file)
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: ac‧ci‧den‧tal

### Adjective

accidental m or f (masculine and feminine plural accidentales)
* accidental
* nonessential

#### Derived terms

* accidentalidad
* accidentalmente

#### Related terms

* accidente

### Noun

accidental m (plural accidentales)
* (music) accidental
    Synonym: accidente

### Further reading

* “accidental”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10