accident

== English == === Etymology === First attested in the late 14th century. From Middle English accident, from Old French accident, from Latin accidēns, present active participle of accidō (“happen”); from ad (“to”) + cadō (“fall”). See cadence, case. In the sense “unintended pregnancy”, first attested in 1932. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈæk.sɪ.dənt/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈæk.sə.dənt/, /ˈæk.sɪ.dənt/, /-dɛnt/ (pin–pen merger) IPA(key): /ˈæk.sə.dɪnt/ Hyphenation: ac‧cid‧ent === Noun === accident (countable and uncountable, plural accidents) An unexpected event with negative consequences occurring without the intention of the one suffering the consequences, and (in the strict sense) not directly caused by humans. Coordinate term: act of God (law) casus; such unforeseen, extraordinary, extraneous interference as is out of the range of ordinary calculation. (transport) A collision or crash of a vehicle, aircraft, or other form of transportation that causes damage to the transportation involved; and sometimes injury or death to the transportation's occupants or bystanders in close proximity. (but see Usage notes) Any chance event. (uncountable) Chance; random chance. c.1861-1863, Richard Chevenix Trench, in 1888, Letters and memorials, Volume 1, Thou cam'st not to thy place by accident, / It is the very place God meant for thee; […] Any property, fact, or relation that is the result of chance or is nonessential or nonsubstantive. Synonym: accidens 14thC, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale in The Canterbury Tales, These cookes how they stamp, and strain, and grind, / And turne substance into accident, / To fulfill all thy likerous talent! (grammar) A property attached to a word, but not essential to it, such as gender, number, or case. a 1799, John Parkhurst, A Hebrew and English lexicon without points, page 25 An adjective, so called because adjectitious, or added to a substantive, denotes some quality or accident of the substantive to which it is joined […] (euphemistic) An instance of incontinence. Urine or feces excreted due to incontinence. (euphemistic) An unintended pregnancy. (derogatory or humorous) A person born from an unintended pregnancy. (geology) An irregular surface feature with no apparent cause. (geology) A sudden discontinuity of ground such as fault of great thickness, bed or lentil of unstable ground. (heraldry) A point or mark which may be retained or omitted in a coat of arms. ==== Usage notes ==== Risk management and risk mitigation experts (such as actuaries, systems engineers, and others) generally do not approve of calling motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) "accidents", because they advisedly reserve that term for things not directly caused by human recklessness or negligence. Because it is predictably obvious (and directly causal) that distracted driving (e.g., texting, IMing/DMing, videogaming, or intoxication while driving) produces MVCs, those MVCs are not "accidents". Nonetheless, among the general public, MVCs are quite often called "accidents" rather than "crashes" or "collisions", not only by idiomatic inertia but also because connotatively, it steers clear of broaching the topic of blame assignment, whereas a phrase like "he crashed" connotes blame. ==== Synonyms ==== (unexpected event with negative consequences): mishap (unexpected event that takes place without foresight or expectation): befalling, chance, contingency, casualty; See also Thesaurus:accident (chance): fortune, luck; see also Thesaurus:luck (law): casus ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== ==== Translations ==== ==== See also ==== circumstance, coincidence, happenstance === Adjective === accident (not comparable) (transport) Designating any form of transportation involved in an accident. === See also === === References === Elisabetta Lonati, "Allas, the shorte throte, the tendre mouth": the sins of the mouth in The Canterbury Tales, in Thou sittest at another boke, volume 3 (2008, ISSN 1974-0603), page 253: "the cooks "turnen substance into accident" (Pd 539), transform the raw material, its natural essence, into the outward aspect by which it is known." Barbara Fass Leavy, To Blight With Plague: Studies in a Literary Theme (1993), page 47: To turn substance into accident is to give external form to what previously was unformed, to transform spirit into matter, to reduce eternal truths to their ephemeral physical manifestations. === Further reading === “accident”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “accident”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. “accident”, in OneLook Dictionary Search. == Catalan == === Etymology === Borrowed from Latin accidentem, present active participle of accidō (“happen”). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): (Central) [ək.siˈðen] IPA(key): (Balearic) [ək.siˈðent], [ət.siˈðent] IPA(key): (Valencia) [ak.siˈðent] === Noun === accident m (plural accidents) accident (a chance occurrence) (grammar) accident (music) accidental (logic) accident (transport) accident (geography) feature ==== Derived terms ==== === Further reading === “accident”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007 “accident”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026 “accident” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua. “accident” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962. == Dutch == === Etymology === From Middle Dutch accident, from Middle French accident. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˌɑk.siˈdɛnt/ Hyphenation: ac‧ci‧dent Rhymes: -ɛnt === Noun === accident n (plural accidenten, diminutive accidentje n) (philosophy, theology) accidental property (now Belgium) accident == French == === Etymology === Learned borrowing from Latin accidentem. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ak.si.dɑ̃/ === Noun === accident m (plural accidents) accident accident de voiture ― car crash, car accident accident de décompression ― (please add an English translation of this usage example) accident de parcours ― (please add an English translation of this usage example) accident de travail ― (please add an English translation of this usage example) accident vasculaire cérébral ― (please add an English translation of this usage example) par accident ― (please add an English translation of this usage example) ==== Usage notes ==== Not to be confused with incident. ==== Derived terms ==== accidentel accidenter suraccident ==== Descendants ==== Antillean Creole: aksidan Haitian Creole: aksidan === Further reading === “accident”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012 == Latin == === Etymology 1 === Form of the verb accidō (“to fall down upon”). ==== Verb ==== accident third-person plural future active indicative of accidō === Etymology 2 === Form of the verb accīdō (“to cut down”). ==== Verb ==== accīdent third-person plural future active indicative of accīdō == Middle French == === Noun === accident m (plural accidens) accident (unexpected outcome) == Old French == === Etymology === Inherited from Latin accidēns. === Noun === accident oblique singular, m (oblique plural accidenz or accidentz, nominative singular accidenz or accidentz, nominative plural accident) accident (chance occurrence) symptom (medical) ==== Descendants ==== English: accident French: accident == Romanian == === Etymology === Borrowed from French accident. === Noun === accident n (plural accidente) accident ==== Declension ==== == Scots == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): [ˈaksɪdɛnt] === Noun === accident (plural accidents) An accident; a coincidental occurrence or event. === References === Eagle, Andy, editor (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.