incidental

[in-si-den-tl]

adjective

1. happening or likely to happen in an unplanned or subordinate conjunction with something else.

   Synonyms: contingent, fortuitous, chance, casual
   Antonyms: fundamental

2. incurred casually and in addition to the regular or main amount.

   incidental expenses.

3. likely to happen or naturally appertaining (usually followed byto ).

noun

1. something incidental, as a circumstance.

2. incidentals, minor expenses.

incidental

/ ˌɪnsɪˈdɛntəl /

adjective

1. happening in connection with or resulting from something more important; casual or fortuitous

2. found in connection (with); related (to)

3. caused (by)

4. occasional or minor

   incidental expenses

noun

1. (often plural) an incidental or minor expense, event, or action

Other Word Forms

• incidentalness noun
• nonincidental adjective
• nonincidentally adverb
• unincidental adjective
• unincidentally adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of incidental¹

First recorded in 1610–20; incident + -al ¹

Example Sentences

The main finding: A longer daily walk seems to beat a lot of incidental steps—but there is no need to trek for hours on end.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The chaos is not incidental; it’s the method.

Read more on Salon

And whether the cats recovered because they were treated with Tamiflu, or whether the medication was incidental and they’d have recovered on their own — from another virus, infection or ailment — isn’t clear.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“Within the building itself, you would be shook around so much that there could be incidental injuries to people from falling objects within the building itself,” he told the board.

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It was only later the country learned there had only been one incidental attack, and the second was created as pretext to call it a provocation that required a massive American response.

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Related Words

• accidental 
• ancillary 
• casual 
• coincidental 
• random 
• secondary