accidental🔊

(versus the essence) Pertaining to (id=philosophical sense, versus essence or substance) and not (essence); thus, inessential; incidental; secondary.

(philosophy) Nonessential to something's inherent nature (especially in Aristotelian thought).

(in music) (music) Adjusted by one or two semitones, in temporary departure from the key signature.

(occasionally and by chance) Occurring sometimes, by chance; occasional.

(unintentionally and by chance) Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; by accident, unintentional.

(in math, especially geometry) (geometry) Being a double point with two distinct tangent planes in 4-dimensional projective space.

A property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything happening accidentally.

(pluralonly) Those fortuitous effects produced by luminous rays falling on certain objects so that some parts stand forth in abnormal brightness and other parts are cast into a deep shadow.

(music) A sharp, flat, or natural, occurring not at the commencement of a piece of music as the signature, but before a particular note.

Part of a text that has a mainly structural purpose, such as spelling, punctuation{{,}} or capitalization.