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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

accidence

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

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 Charles Thomas Cruttwell

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

Theoretical, being confined to certain grammatical rules of accidence and syntax and practically excluding vocabulary.

From Ulysses by James Joyce

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Related Words

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