accident

[ak-si-duhnt]

See more synonyms for accident on Thesaurus.com

noun

an undesirable or unfortunate happening that occurs unintentionally and usually results in harm, injury, damage, or loss; casualty; mishap: automobile accidents.
Law. such a happening resulting in injury that is in no way the fault of the injured person for which compensation or indemnity is legally sought.
any event that happens unexpectedly, without a deliberate plan or cause.

chance; fortune; luck: I was there by accident.
a fortuitous circumstance, quality, or characteristic: an accident of birth.
Philosophy. any entity or event contingent upon the existence of something else.
Geology. a surface irregularity, usually on a small scale, the reason for which is not apparent.

Origin of accident

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin accident- (stem of accidēns happening, present participle of accidere to befall), equivalent to ac- ac- + -cid-, combining form of cad- fall + -ent- -ent

Related formspost·ac·ci·dent, adjective

Can be confusedaccident Occident

Synonyms for accident

See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com

1. mischance, misfortune, misadventure; contingency; disaster.

Antonyms for accident

4. design, intent.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for accident

disaster, mishap, calamity, setback, hazard, pileup, casualty, occurrence, circumstance, blow, smash, misfortune, misadventure, collision, fluke, total, fender-bender, fortuity, fortune, happening

Examples from the Web for accident

Contemporary Examples of accident

Father Joel Román Salazar died in a car crash in 2013; his death was ruled an accident, but the suspicion of foul play persists.
Mexico’s Priests Are Marked for Murder
Jason McGahan
January 7, 2015
Lalo insisted during a recent interview that they encountered Chito “and his people by accident.”
An Informant, a Missing American, and Juarez’s House of Death: Inside the 12-Year Cold Case of David Castro
Bill Conroy
January 6, 2015
The accident rate in Asia has marred what was in 2014 a banner year for aviation safety.
Annoying Airport Delays Might Prevent You From Becoming the Next AirAsia 8501
Clive Irving
January 6, 2015
If there are 162 confirmed deaths from Flight 8501, this would make 2014 the worst year for accident deaths since 2005.
Did Bad Weather Bring Down AirAsia 8501?
Clive Irving
December 29, 2014
What conflicts do exist between them derive from misunderstanding and accident.
The 2014 Novel of the Year
Nathaniel Rich
December 29, 2014

Historical Examples of accident

That there were more than one of these latter may be an accident.
De Libris: Prose and Verse
Austin Dobson
By some accident, it had been left unhasped, and yielded easily to her hand.
The Wives of The Dead
Nathaniel Hawthorne
As there were no bones broken, I blessed the accident and went on deck.
Sketches from Memory (From "Mosses From An Old Manse")
Nathaniel Hawthorne
But we had an accident, now, and it fetched all the plans to a standstill.
Tom Sawyer Abroad
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
Now that she had assumed it, though, he could hardly explain that it was an accident.
Quaint Courtships
Various

British Dictionary definitions for accident

accident

noun

an unforeseen event or one without an apparent cause
anything that occurs unintentionally or by chance; chance; fortuneI met him by accident
a misfortune or mishap, esp one causing injury or death
Also called: adjunct logic philosophy a nonessential attribute or characteristic of something (as opposed to substance)
metaphysics a property as contrasted with the substance in which it inheres
geology a surface irregularity in a natural formation, esp in a rock formation or a river system

Word Origin for accident

C14: via Old French from Latin accident- chance, happening, from the present participle of accidere to befall, happen, from ad- to + cadere to fall

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for accident

late 14c., "an occurrence, incident, event," from Old French accident (12c.), from Latin accidentem (nominative accidens), present participle of accidere "happen, fall out, fall upon," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + cadere "fall" (see case (n.1)). Meaning grew from "something that happens, an event," to "something that happens by chance," then "mishap." Philosophical sense "non-essential characteristic of a thing" is late 14c. Meaning "unplanned child" is attested by 1932.