Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective accidental differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of accidental are casual, contingent, and fortuitous. While all these words mean "not amenable to planning or prediction," accidental stresses chance.

any resemblance to actual persons is entirely accidental

When might casual be a better fit than accidental?

In some situations, the words casual and accidental are roughly equivalent. However, casual stresses lack of real or apparent premeditation or intent.

a casual encounter with a stranger

When is it sensible to use contingent instead of accidental?

While in some cases nearly identical to accidental, contingent suggests possibility of happening but stresses uncertainty and dependence on other future events for existence or occurrence.

the contingent effects of the proposed law

When can fortuitous be used instead of accidental?

While the synonyms fortuitous and accidental are close in meaning, fortuitous so strongly suggests chance that it often connotes entire absence of cause.

a series of fortuitous events

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of accidental Authorities are urging residents to stay updated with NWS alerts and follow all fire safety guidelines to prevent accidental wildfires. Faisal Kutty, Newsweek, 12 Mar. 2025 Penicillin, the microwave oven and even Post-it Notes were all accidental discoveries that came from unexpected detours. Mark Travers, Forbes, 11 Mar. 2025 Swing the faucet spout away from the wash area to avoid accidental chipping or scratching. Nicole Letts, Southern Living, 9 Mar. 2025 One year after his initial disappearance, the untimely death of 22-year-old Missouri student Riley Strain is still on the minds of many in his home state and Nashville, where his accidental death prompted officials to take action to make the city safer. Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY, 8 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for accidental
Recent Examples of Synonyms for accidental
Adjective
  • The weather’s getting warmer in Montreal, playoff weather, a time of year this group is used to looking for external, irrelevant sources of motivation to play out the string.
    Arpon Basu, The Athletic, 16 Mar. 2025
  • Too long to weed through red herrings and convolutions in the mystery that eventually border on irrelevant.
    Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • In addition to the inadvertent possibility, there is also the act by a user that explicitly tells generative AI to promote a particular addiction.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes, 15 Mar. 2025
  • Some systems rely on very old programming languages, Flick said in her affidavit, and are vulnerable to being broken by inadvertent user error.
    Emily Peck, Axios, 13 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Centers Of Excellence To Centralize AI-Powered Tools And Expertise AI will become an integral part of any meaningful business interaction, in-house project or collaboration with external vendors and partners.
    Nataliya Andreychuk, Forbes, 20 Mar. 2025
  • Bhutan’s ministry of foreign affairs and external trade did not return a request for comment on what the country could be asked to do to satisfy U.S. immigration officials − to get off the Trump administration list.
    Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY, 20 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • While nothing horrible or scandalous went down, each of the various storylines ended with something startling or unexpected.
    Erik Kain, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2025
  • Grease tends to drip or fly around in unexpected ways, especially if your oven has a convection or air fryer fan.
    Matthew Korfhage, WIRED, 16 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • The patchy and adventitious quality of Jameson’s reconstruction must make clear his difference as a thinker.
    Mark Greif, Harper's Magazine, 26 July 2024
  • The cut appears to have been high enough that the stump should still have enough adventitious buds to regrow.
    Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post, 3 Oct. 2023
Adjective
  • He was accused of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the unintentional death of Neely – and later acquitted.
    Michael Ruiz, Fox News, 10 Mar. 2025
  • During the studied period, the percentage of misuse or drug abuse cases increased from 26.1% to 39.2%, while there was a decrease in unintentional exposures, from 47.8% to 35.4%.
    Kiki Intarasuwan, CBS News, 8 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • And that is not something extrinsic, imposed by regulation or taxation, but inherent to the way the company conceives of itself, its ownership structure, its governance, its performance metrics, its finances — everything.
    IESE Business School, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2025
  • Those sensors detect the subtle vibrations that are transmitted to the extrinsic laryngeal muscles (in the neck) from other anatomical locations including the velum, oropharynx, tongue, and epiglottis.
    Ben Coxworth, New Atlas, 21 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • How these characters define themselves ethnically is incidental to the violent, high-stakes crime world they’re thrust into.
    Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 6 Mar. 2025
  • A lot of character growth happens offscreen, and the romantic relationships feel arbitrary more than anything else — necessary on the page for marketing a TV show, but mostly incidental to what makes people want to watch this one in the first place.
    Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 6 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Accidental.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/accidental. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.

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