# accident

Pronunciation: say "AK-si-duhnt" US /ˈæksədənt/, UK /ˈæksɪdənt/

## Noun

1. An unexpected and unintended event that causes damage or injury, especially a crash involving a vehicle, aircraft, or other transport.
   - Simple: Something bad that happens by chance and is not planned, often a crash that hurts people or damages things.
   - _The fire was ruled an accident caused by faulty wiring._
   - _Nobody was to blame; the whole thing was a tragic accident._
2. Any event that comes about purely by chance rather than by design.
   - Simple: An event that happens by luck or chance, not by plan.
   - _Their first meeting was a fortunate accident that changed both their lives._
   - _The reunion was a pure accident, unplanned by anyone involved._
3. A polite term for an instance of losing control of one's bladder or bowels, or for the urine or feces that result.
   - Simple: A polite word for when someone wets or soils themselves, or for the mess this leaves.
   - _The nurse cleaned up quietly after the patient had an accident._
   - _He was embarrassed by the accident and changed his clothes quickly._
4. Chance itself, thought of as the force that makes things happen without anyone planning them, rather than any one chance event.
   - Simple: Luck or chance that makes things happen without any plan.
   - _He stumbled on the solution entirely by accident._
   - _The old manuscript survived the fire by sheer accident._
5. A pregnancy that happens without being intended or planned.
   - Simple: A pregnancy that was not planned.
   - _She admitted that the pregnancy had been an accident._
   - _He joked that all three pregnancies had been accidents._
6. In law, an unforeseen and extraordinary event lying outside the range of ordinary calculation.
   - Simple: In law, an unexpected event that no one could reasonably have planned for.
   - _The contract excused performance in the event of an accident outside the parties' control._
   - _The court held that the earthquake was an accident beyond ordinary calculation, so the builder was not liable._
8. A property, fact, or relation that results from chance or is nonessential rather than fundamental to a thing.
   - Simple: A feature of something that could change without making it a different thing.
   - _Philosophers distinguish a substance from its accidents, such as color or size._
   - _That the table is brown is an accident, not part of its essence._
9. A humorous or derogatory term for a person whose birth resulted from an unintended pregnancy. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A joking or unkind word for someone whose parents did not plan to have them.
   - _He laughed and called himself a happy accident._
   - _Being the family accident became a running joke between the siblings._

## Adjective

7. Describing a vehicle, aircraft, or other form of transportation that has been involved in an accident.
   - Simple: Used to describe a vehicle, aircraft, or other transport involved in an accident.
   - _Investigators photographed the accident vehicle before it was removed._
   - _The accident aircraft was transported to a secure facility for analysis._

## Other meanings

- (noun) In traditional grammar, a variable feature of a word, such as its gender, number, or case, as distinct from its essential meaning.
- (noun) In geology, an irregular feature of a surface that has no apparent cause.
- (noun) In geology, a sudden discontinuity in the ground, such as a thick fault or a bed of unstable material.
- (noun) In heraldry, a point or mark that may be either retained or left off a coat of arms.

## Origin

First recorded in the late 14th century, it came from Old French accident, from Latin accidēns, the present participle of accidō ("happen"), which was formed from ad ("to") plus cadō ("fall"). The sense of "unintended pregnancy" is first attested in 1932.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/accident (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).