accidence

American  

[ak-si-duhns] / ˈæk sɪ dəns /

noun

1. the rudiments or essentials of a subject.

2. Grammar.

   1. the study of inflection as a grammatical device.

   2. the inflections so studied.

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accidence British  

/ ˈæksɪdəns /

noun

1. inflectional morphology; the part of grammar concerned with changes in the form of words by internal modification or by affixation, for the expression of tense, person, case, number, etc

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Etymology

Origin of accidence

1500–1510; < Latin accidentia, neuter plural of accidēns (present participle of accidere to fall, befall). See accident

Example Sentences

It was Belgian's worst rail accidence since 2001 when eight people were killed and 12 were injured in a head-on collision between commuter trains outside Brussels.

From BBC • Feb. 15, 2010

Under regulations drawn up in 1570 by the school's patron, Sir Nicholas Bacon, enrollment was limited to 12 underprivileged boys who had "learned their accidence without books and can wright indifferently."

From Time Magazine Archive

In the mean time my wandering steps had early chanced upon a Spanish grammar, and I had begun those inquiries in it which were based upon a total ignorance of English accidence.

From Familiar Spanish Travels by Howells, William Dean

But with such minute exceptions, the accidence of the 16th century was the accidence of the 19th.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 6 "English Language" to "Epsom Salts" by Various

The changes of accidence are less frequent than those of syntax, yet such occur.

From The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] Introduction and Publisher's Advertising by Clark, William George

Related Words

• alphabet
• syntax