Ac`ci*den"tal (&?;), n.
1. A property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything
happening accidentally.
He conceived it just that accidentals . . .
should sink with the substance of the accusation.
Fuller.
2.
pl. (Paint.) 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. (Mus.) A sharp, flat,
or natural, occurring not at the commencement of a piece of music as the
signature, but before a particular note.
Ac`ci*den"tal (&?;), a.
[Cf. F. accidentel, earlier accidental.]
1.
Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; casual; fortuitous; as, an accidental visit.
2. Nonessential; not necessary belonging; incidental; as, are accidental to a play.
Accidental chords (Mus.), those which contain one or more
tones foreign to their proper harmony. -- Accidental colors (Opt.), colors
depending on the hypersensibility of the retina of
the eye for
complementary colors. They are purely subjective
sensations of color which often result from the contemplation of actually colored bodies. -- Accidental point
(Persp.), the point
in which a right line, drawn from the eye, parallel to a
given right line, cuts the perspective plane; so called to distinguish it from the principal point, or point of view, where a
line drawn from the eye
perpendicular to the perspective plane meets this plane. -- Accidental lights
(Paint.), secondary lights; effects
of light other than ordinary daylight, such as the
rays of the sun darting through a cloud, or between the leaves of trees; the effect of
moonlight, candlelight, or burning bodies. Fairholt.
Syn. -- Casual; fortuitous; contingent; occasional; adventitious. -- Accidental, Incidental, Casual, Fortuitous, Contingent. We speak of a thing as accidental when it falls out as
by chance, and not in the regular course of things; as, an accidental meeting,
an accidental advantage, etc. We call a thing
incidental when it falls, as it were, into some regular course of things, but is secondary, and forms no essential part thereof; as, an incremental remark,
an incidental evil, an incidental benefit.
We speak of
a thing as
casual, when it falls out or
happens, as it were, by mere
chance, without being prearranged or premeditated;
as, a casual remark or encounter; a casual observer. An idea of the
unimportant is attached to what is casual. Fortuitous is applied to what occurs without any known cause, and in opposition to what has been
foreseen; as, a fortuitous concourse of atoms. We call a thing contingent when it is such that, considered in itself, it
may or may not happen, but is dependent for its existence on something else; as, the
time of my coming will be contingent on intelligence yet to be
received.
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