Definition of: accident

(ak′sə·dənt) noun
1. Anything that happens by chance; anything occurring unexpectedly, undesignedly, or without known or assignable cause; a contingency; especially, any unpleasant or unfortunate occurrence involving injury, loss, suffering, or death; a casualty; mishap.
2. Any non-essential circumstance or attribute.
3. Gram. An inflection, as of case, gender, number, etc.
4. Logic Any feature, element, or accompaniment of an object not essential to the conception of it. [<L accidens, -entis, ppr. of accidere happen < ad- upon + cadere fall] Synonyms: adventure, calamity, casualty, chance, contingency, disaster, fortuity, hap, happening, hazard, incident, misadventure, misfortune, mishap, possibility. An accident is that which happens without anyone's direct intention; a chance that which happens without any known cause. An incident is viewed as occurring in the regular course of things, but subordinate to the main purpose, or aside from the main design. Fortune and chance are nearly equivalent, but chance can be used of human effort and endeavor as fortune cannot; we say “there is one chance in a thousand”; as personified, we speak of fickle Fortune, blind Chance. Since the unintended is often the undesirable, accident tends to signify some calamity or disaster, but we may speak of a fortunate or happy accident. An adventure is that which may turn out ill, a misadventure that which does turn out ill. A slight disturbing accident is a mishap. Compare CATASTROPHE, EVENT, HAZARD. Antonyms: Appointment, calculation, certainty, decree, fate, foreordination, intention, law, necessity, ordainment, ordinance, plan, preparation, provision, purpose.