accidental

accidental — adjective

1. describing something that was not planned or intended, but came about by chance

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

describing something that was not planned or intended, but came about by chance — for example, knocking over a glass while reaching for a phone, or meeting an old classmate at the airport.

Example

Jamal's accidental click sent the email before she had finished writing it.

accidental + noun (click, fall, meeting)

The fire was accidental, caused by a candle that nobody remembered to blow out.

predicative use: be accidental

Common collocations
  • accidental death
  • accidental damage
  • accidental meeting
  • accidental discovery
  • purely accidental
Synonyms
  • unintentional

    stresses lack of intent more than chance

  • unplanned

    highlights absence of planning, neutral on cause

  • chance

    before a noun, like 'a chance encounter'; emphasises luck

Antonyms

Usage Note

Often contrasted directly with 'deliberate', 'intentional', or 'on purpose' to stress that no one planned the event. Frequently modifies abstract nouns of action or result (death, damage, discovery, meeting).

Common Mistakes

I accidental dropped the cup.
I accidentally dropped the cup.
use the adverb 'accidentally' before a verb; 'accidental' only modifies a noun.

accidental — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe events that happen without prior design, but they differ in focus and register. 'Accidental' is the most common everyday choice and stresses that something unwanted just happened, often with a bad result, as in 'accidental damage' or 'an accidental death'. 'Unintentional' is slightly more formal and focuses on the actor's state of mind: 'an unintentional insult' was not meant to hurt, even if its effect was real. 'Unplanned' simply means there was no schedule or arrangement, so it fits neutral or even positive contexts, like 'an unplanned holiday'. 'Chance' is used before a noun ('a chance meeting') to highlight pure luck. Compare: 'an accidental fire' (a bad event nobody caused on purpose) versus 'a chance encounter at a café' (a happy coincidence).

accidental ↗unintentionalunplannedchance ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • accidental death
  • accidental damage
  • accidental meeting
  • accidental discovery
  • accidental injury

Adverbs

  • purely accidental
  • completely accidental
  • entirely accidental

Phrases

  • by no means accidental
  • far from accidental

Etymology

LatinLate LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

Comes from the Latin word 'accidere', meaning 'to fall to' or 'to happen', formed from 'ad-' ('to') and 'cadere' ('to fall'). Through Late Latin 'accidentalis' and Old French 'accidentel', it entered English in the late 14th century with the sense of something that happens by chance rather than by plan. The musical and ornithological noun uses developed later as specialist extensions of the same idea: a note or a bird that is, in a sense, not where you would expect it to be.