What is the difference between contingent and accidental?
contingent | accidental |
An event which may or may not happen; that which is unforeseen, undetermined, or dependent on something future; a contingency.
That which falls to one in a division or apportionment among a number; a suitable share; proportion;
a quota of troops.
* 2014 , Ian Black, "
Possible or liable, but not certain to occur; incidental; casual.
(with upon ) Dependent on something that is undetermined or unknown.
Dependent on something that may or may not occur.
Not logically necessarily true or false.
Not essential; incidental, secondary.
(music) Adjusted by one or two semitones, in temporary departure from the key signature.
Occurring sometimes, by chance; occasional.
Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; by accident, unintentional.
*1603 , (John Florio), translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays , III.1:
*:The way to trueth is but one and simple, that of particular profit and benefit of affaires a man hath in charge, double, uneven and accidentall .
(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.
* Fuller — He conceived it just that accidentals ... should sink with the substance of the accusation.
(painting, 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.
Accidental is a synonym of contingent.
As nouns the difference between contingent and accidental
is that contingent is an event which may or may not happen; that which is unforeseen, undetermined, or dependent on something future; a contingency while accidental is a property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything happening accidentally.As adjectives the difference between contingent and accidental
is that contingent is possible or liable, but not certain to occur; incidental; casual while accidental is not essential; incidental, secondary.contingent
English
Noun
(en noun)Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis", The Guardian , 27 November 2014:
- Arrests and prosecutions intensified after Isis captured Mosul in June, but the groundwork had been laid by an earlier amendment to Jordan’s anti-terrorism law. It is estimated that 2,000 Jordanians have fought and 250 of them have died in Syria – making them the third largest Arab contingent in Isis after Saudi Arabians and Tunisians.
Adjective
(en adjective)- The success of his undertaking is contingent upon events which he can not control.
- a contingent estate
