Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use accidental in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun

Accidental means pertaining to accident and not essence; thus, inessential; incidental; secondary. Example: “The discovery was purely accidental.”

Examples of accidental by meaning

adjectivePertaining to accident and not essence; thus, inessential; incidental; secondary.

  • Nevertheless, it contained essential features, as opposed to accidental or secondary ones, that made it adaptable to this purpose.1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume III: The Breakdown, Oxford: Clarendon...

adjectiveHappening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; by accident...

  • The discovery was purely accidental.
  • He was killed by an accidental gunshot.

More sentences with accidental

  • Lexical gaps are called accidental because their existence is by accident; it is not essential.From the entry accident
  • The accidental amputation was due to the guard not being on the lathe.From the entry lathe
  • Despite these testimonies, "accidental asphyxiation" remains his official cause of death.From the entry official
  • I think she will forgive an accidental slip-up, so don’t worry too much about misspeaking.From the entry slip-up
  • Although most hyperforeignisms are accidental, there are some intentional ones, such as Target being humorously called "Tarjay."From the entry hyperforeignism
  • The faulty wiring caused the unfortunate worker’s accidental electrocution.From the entry electrocution
  • He divides dyspepsias into accidental, temporary (indigestions) and habitual.From the entry dyspepsia
  • Does my policy cover accidental loss?From the entry cover
  • Shore jumped in and got binked with an accidental elbow .2024, Juan Vidal, A Second Chance on Earth. From the entry bink
  • Limited space in your shower can cause bottle avalanches, water leaks, and accidental butt brushing.2017 June 22, Maria Cassano, “21 Genius Inventions That Make Your Bathroom Cleaner & More Hygienic”, in Bustle. From the entry heiny
  • Endless numbers of local variants, genetic throw-offs, or accidental recombinations provide individuality and occasionally superior quality.2011, Philip M. Wagner, Grapes into Wine, page 21. From the entry throw-off
  • Another type of theory emphasises the sometimes accidental nature of evolution.2009, Anna R. Kinsella, Language Evolution and Syntactic Theory, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 13. From the entry spandrel
  • From the day before, an accidental deployment of oxygen masks—a rubber jungle, in airline-speak—was discussed.2007 March 18, Jeff Bailey, “After service disruptions, airlines are saying they're sorry”, in New York Times, retrieved 21 Mar 2014. From the entry rubber jungle
  • The right of an accidental manslayer to flee to the protective custody of a city of refuge.2001, David L. Lieber, Jules Harlow, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, page 763. From the entry manslayer
  • Drawings of a simple, semi-naïf type also stress the homely, almost accidental tenor of the re-tellings.1979, Growing Point, page 3509. From the entry semi-naïf
  • Accidental overvoltage or overrange protection is provided by fast recovery diodes and zener clamps.1972, United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Technology Utilization Division, NASA Tech Brief - Issues 10600-10756…. From the entry overrange
  • Maybe it come to her then as she might have left them keys about, accidental on purpose.1937, Dorothy L. Sayers, Busman's Honeymoon. From the entry accidentally on purpose
  • However, the accidental killing of Begue by a Bordelese hunter causes another war.1931, Karl Voretzach, Introduction to the Study of Old French Literature, Slatkine, page 214. From the entry Bordelese
  • Henson), and the movie is savvy about how accidental spikes in fame can turn into cynical algorithm manipulation.2018 November 14, Jesse Hassenger, “Disney Goes Viral with an Ambitious, Overstuffed Wreck-It Ralph Sequel”, in The A.V. Club, archived…. From the entry viral
  • Looking at the refers on page 2, it's obvious that May became something of an accidental women's issue.2017 May, Amanda May Aruani, “Letter from the Editor”, in The Arts Paper, New Haven, Connecticut: The Arts Council of Greater New Haven…. From the entry refer
  • Together with this is the influence of an infinite number of neurotransmitters, neurohormones, environmental hazards, and accidental programmings.2016, David R. Hawkins, The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing is Hidden, page 142. From the entry programming
  • A permanent switch guard prevents accidental movement of this switch.2008 December 15, NASA, “2.13 Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC)”, in Shuttle Crew Operations Manual (PDF), archived from the…. From the entry zeroize
  • Or a month later, when, while coming back from an upsetting pet-loss support group meeting, I committed accidental automotive catticide.2006, Melissa Lee Shaw, “Foster”, in Asimov's Science Fiction, volume 30, number 10 & 11, →ISSN, page 175. From the entry caticide
  • Most of these deaths are caused by accidental inhalation of DHMO, but the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide do not end there.1995, John December, quoting Craig Jackson, The World Wide Web Unleashed, 2nd edition, Indianapolis, Ind.: Sams.net, →ISBN, page 450. From the entry thousand
  • The risk of unauthorized action would be increased, as would the danger of accidental or inadvertent war due to equipment malfunction.1976 May 15, Lewis A. Dunn, Herman Kahn, “Parameters of Nth Country Nuclear-weapon Programs and Postures”, in Trends in Nuclear…. From the entry fail-deadly
  • Do you fear he'll be a victim of accidental "dogicide" because he can't resist chasing a passing car?1969 November, Better Homes and Gardens, volume 47, number 11, page 46. From the entry dogicide
  • Moreover, it was an accidental finding resulting from a misimplanted electrode in an experiment originally designed to study the RAS.1967, Melvin Herman Marx, Tom M. Tombaugh, Tom N. Tombaugh, Motivation: Psychological Principles and Educational Implications, page 137. From the entry misimplant
  • Five were intentional to prevent accidental rod withdrawal, and one was the unintentional result of an instrument adjustment.1966 fall, staff of First Atomic Ship Transport, Inc., “Operating Experience of the N.S. Savannah in Commercial Service”, in Nuclear…. From the entry scram
  • “It was all perfectly accidental, arising from my informant striking an acquaintance with an intelligent skin-dresser lodging in that particular slum-house.”1911, Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes, Penguin Classics, published 2007, page 229. From the entry skin dresser
  • His ugliness was not unamiable: it was accidental, external, excrescential.1910, George Bernard Shaw, The Dark Lady of the Sonnets. From the entry excrescential
  • However, the growing prevalence of plastics in some areas means these can be difficult for albatrosses to distinguish, leading to accidental ingestion.2021, Alice A. Horton, Isobelle Blissett, Impacts of Plastic Pollution on Freshwater Aquatic, Terrestrial and Avian Migratory Species in…. From the entry regurgitate
  • How pleasant the little unpretended gatherings of book-societies, and the like; or those purely accidental meetings of a few people well known to each other!.2015, Herbert Spencer, Essays on Education and Kindred Subjects. From the entry unpretended
  • He had intended to create diamonds with his experiments, but the accidental discovery of such amazingly explosive chemical reactions served him in a different stead.2013, Kevin J. Anderson, Clockwork Angels. From the entry stead
  • But consider this first: How do you know that he really meant to call you and this wasn't just an accidental pocket dial?2013, Jess McCann, Was It Something I Said?: The Answer To All Your Dating Dilemmas, Skirt!, →ISBN, pages 7–8. From the entry pocket dial
  • The coroner’s verdict was accidental death.2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger’s history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 124. From the entry verdict
  • Drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death in West Virginia, and the state leads the country in fatal drug overdoses.[2012 August 23, Conor Friedersdorf, quoting Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco, “What OxyContin Addicts in West Virginia Tell Us About the War on…. From the entry overdose
  • But nothing is accidental in Final Alice: the jokes are all so musical and composed with such mastery as to silence narrow-querulousness about content.2003, Robin Holloway, On Music: Essays and Diversions 1963-2003, page 380. From the entry narrow-gutted

Meaning of accidental

  1. adjective Pertaining to accident and not essence; thus, inessential; incidental; secondary.
  2. adjective Nonessential to something's inherent nature (especially in Aristotelian thought).
  3. adjective Adjusted by one or two semitones, in temporary departure from the key signature.

Full definition of accidental

Questions about accidental in a sentence

How do you use accidental in a sentence?
Accidental is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “The discovery was purely accidental.”
What is a short sentence with accidental?
“The discovery was purely accidental.”
What does accidental mean?
Accidental means pertaining to accident and not essence; thus, inessential; incidental; secondary.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: accidental (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use accidental in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/accidental. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.