coincidental
Americanadjective
-
happening by or resulting from coincidence; by chance.
a coincidental meeting.
-
existing or occurring at the same time.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- coincidentally adverb
- coincidently adverb
- noncoincidental adjective
- noncoincidentally adverb
- uncoincidental adjective
- uncoincidentally adverb
Etymology
Origin of coincidental
First recorded in 1790–1800; coincident + -al 1
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.
Owens is maximalist in her approach, tossing out anything that to her seems funky or confusing or too coincidental, even when they lead to theories that contradict one another.
From Slate • Feb. 27, 2026
"It was just purely coincidental he and I spent some quality time together on what would have been her 85th birthday. The stars had aligned," said Russell.
From BBC • Dec. 25, 2025
That synchronicity was too frequent to be coincidental.
From Science Daily • Oct. 22, 2025
But it doesn’t seem coincidental that gold’s reversal of fortune in this century has followed global central banks’ preference for the metal over U.S.
From Barron's • Oct. 10, 2025
Even though it seemed awfully coincidental, I didn’t want to push my luck by asking too many questions about who this someone was.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
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.
