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
Thoroughness is the excuse for giving boys grammar and accidence in the name of Greek: diagrams, formulae and numerical examples in the name of science.
From Cambridge Essays on Education by Various
She had worked even at the Latin accidence, fondly hoping that she might be capable of instructing him in that language.
From Vanity Fair by Thackeray, William Makepeace
Having finished the accidence she has begun Latin; she can tambour, make embroidery, draw, paint, play the harpsichord, and sing so charmingly that people passing along the street stop to listen to the enchanting music.”
From Daughters of the Revolution and Their Times 1769 - 1776 A Historical Romance by Coffin, Charles Carleton
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.
