The difference between Accidental and Adventitious

When used as adjectives, accidental means not essential, whereas adventitious means from an external source.


Accidental is also noun with the meaning: a property which is not essential.

check bellow for the other definitions of Accidental and Adventitious

  1. Accidental as an adjective:

    Not essential; incidental, secondary.

  2. Accidental as an adjective (philosophy):

    Nonessential to something's inherent nature (especially in Aristotelian thought).

  3. Accidental as an adjective (music):

    Adjusted by one or two semitones, in temporary departure from the key signature.

  4. Accidental as an adjective:

    Occurring sometimes, by chance; occasional.

  5. Accidental as an adjective:

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

  6. Accidental as an adjective (geometry):

    Being a double point with two distinct tangent planes in 4-dimensional projective space.

  1. Accidental as a noun:

    A property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything happening accidentally.

  2. Accidental as a noun (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.

  3. Accidental as a noun (music):

    A sharp, flat, or natural, occurring not at the commencement of a piece of music as the signature, but before a particular note.

  1. Adventitious as an adjective:

    From an external source; not innate or inherent, foreign.

  2. Adventitious as an adjective:

    Accidental, additional, appearing casually.

  3. Adventitious as an adjective (genetics, medicine):

    Not congenital; acquired.

  4. Adventitious as an adjective (biology):

    Developing in an unusual place or from an unusual source.