What is the difference between incidental and accidental?
incidental | accidental |
Loosely associated; existing as a byproduct, tangent, or accident.
Entering or approaching, prior to reflection (more frequently incident).
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 antonym of incidental.
Accidental is a synonym of incidental.
As adjectives the difference between incidental and accidental
is that incidental is loosely associated; existing as a byproduct, tangent, or accident while accidental is not essential; incidental, secondary.As nouns the difference between incidental and accidental
is that incidental is incidental expense while accidental is a property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything happening accidentally.incidental
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- That character, though colorful, is incidental to the overall plot.