10/25/23, 6:16 PM ACCIDENT | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

accident    


Meaning of accident in English

 

accident
noun

UK  /ˈæk.sɪ.dənt / US  /ˈæk.sə.dənt /

Add to word list 

A2 [C ]

something bad that happens that is not expected or intended and that often
damages something or injures someone:

• have an accident Josh had an accident and spilled water all over his work.
• involved in an accident The lorry had been involved in an accident.
• The sign was damaged in an accident.
• She was injured in a car/road accident (= when one car hit another).

Synonyms
collision (ACCIDENT)
crash (ACCIDENT)
smash (ACCIDENT) UK
smash-up UK

Compare
fender bender US informal
prang noun UK informal

 Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

an accident
accident Accidents at work can sometimes result in serious injury.
mishap Due to a surgical mishap, she's lost the use of her left arm.
mischance It would be a great loss if, by some mischance, the message was never
Contents
received. To top 

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misfortune They were beset by misfortunes their whole lives.

    
misadventure The film was about his comic misadventures in love.
death by misadventure UK The coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.
See more results »

 Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

 
[ C or U ]

something that happens by chance, without anyone intending or planning it:

• accident of birth Social status is often merely an accident of birth (= caused by

whether people are born rich, poor, etc.).
• I like to think it is not an accident that hidden in the word "created" are the letters R-E-
A-D.

• He became president by an accident of history.

 More examples

 SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Idioms

accidents will happen

an accident waiting to happen
be no accident
by accident
have an accident
more by accident than design

(Definition of accident from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

accident | AMERICAN DICTIONARY

accident
noun [ C ]

US  /ˈæk·sə·dənt , -ˌdent /

accident noun [C] (INJURY)

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

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an event not intended by anyone but which has the result of injuring someone
    
or damaging something:

• He was killed in an automobile accident at the age of 21.

accident noun [C] (EVENT NOT PLANNED)

 

something that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally:

• It’s no accident that (= There are reasons that explain why) she was chosen to be a
member of the most powerful committee in Congress.

accidental
adjective US  /ˌæk·səˈdent·əl /

• The fire began shortly after 1:30 a.m. and appears to have been accidental.

accidentally
adverb US  /ˌæk·səˈdent·əl·i /

• He accidentally left the water running and flooded a bathroom floor in the hotel.

Idiom

by accident

(Definition of accident from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

EXAMPLES of accident

accident
Republicanism, in the sense of antimonarchism, was a product of accident rather than design.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

For example, a funny or embarrassing incident, a frightening story, accident or danger, or a time
you got into trouble with your parents.


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From the Cambridge English Corpus 
    
There was little reference to any strategic planning for accident prevention.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

Drop-in centres for adolescents: planned to develop existing scheme to include accident
prevention.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

First, an accident, possibly with one of the ovens, may have resulted in the conflagration.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

Two studies75,76 have found depression to be associated with recent deaths and accidents in
near relatives.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

The trade unions had been strongly dissatisfied with the 1901 law in which compensation for
accidents was to be paid by the employer.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

Originally, the principles of bioethics were a means for protecting human rights, but through a
historical accident, bioethical principles came to be considered as fundamental.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

The majority are based around actual or fictitious events with a mildly anti-establishment
character, often involving personal and physical threats or accidents.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

Some of the widows may have lost their husbands in mine accidents or because of
occupational diseases.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

By sheer accident, an empty trolley, nobody aboard, is starting to roll down a certain track.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

Later, about forty-five seconds in, you begin to hear two simultaneous lead voices, an
arrangement gambit that also came about by accident.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

For each of the matching criteria an index is constructed over the set of accidents.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

Furthermore, it is also known that the phonological correspondences established early in

development are less vulnerable to neurological accident than those established later.


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From the Cambridge English Corpus 
    
It is surely no accident that this particular formulation, 'amor de lonh', has come to encapsulate
the basic experience of 'courtly love'.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

See all examples of accident

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of
the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

COLLOCATIONS with accident

accident
These are words often used in combination with accident.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

accident investigator
• The accident investigator observed that unexpected events, such as user slips and mode
errors, are commonly considered as human errors.
From Wikipedia 

accident of birth
• It is no longer an accident of birth.
From the Hansard archive 

accident prevention
• The reduction of home hazards was a frequent focus of accident prevention work.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of
the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

See all collocations with accident

What is the pronunciation of accident? 

Translations of accident

in Chinese (Traditional)

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10/25/23, 6:16 PM ACCIDENT | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

意外, 不測, 事故…

    
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in Chinese (Simplified)

意外, 不测, 事故…

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in Spanish
accidente, casualidad, accidente [masculine]…
See more

in Portuguese
acidente, acidente [masculine]…
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in more languages 

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accessory before the fact phrase

accessory gland BETA

accessory pathway
accha
accident
accident and emergency
accident and health benefit
accident insurance
accident investigation BETA

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More meanings of accident

 All

accident-prone
post-accident
accident insurance
accident investigation
accident of birth
accident and emergency
fatal accident inquiry
See all meanings

 Idioms and phrases

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    

 

WORD OF THE DAY

literate
UK  /ˈlɪt.ər.ət/ US  /ˈlɪt̬ .ɚ.ət/

able to read and write

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