accidence
Americannoun
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the rudiments or essentials of a subject.
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Grammar.
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the study of inflection as a grammatical device.
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the inflections so studied.
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noun
Etymology
Origin of accidence
1500–1510; < Latin accidentia, neuter plural of accidēns (present participle of accidere to fall, befall). See accident
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Nay, we should be fain for Ambrose to bide on here, so he would leave his portion for me to deal with, and teach little Will his primer and accidence.
From The Armourer's Prentices by Hennessy, W.J.
The perfection to which they carried the analysis of sentences and the practical rules for correct speech as well as the systematization of the accidence, has made their grammars a model for all modern school-works.
From The History of Roman Literature From the earliest period to the death of Marcus Aurelius by Cruttwell, Charles Thomas
He was a far more brilliant teacher than Lucy, and ten thousand times preferable to Mr. Adderley, who had once begun to teach Annora her accidence with lamentable want of success.
From The Chaplet of Pearls by Yonge, Charlotte Mary
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
