Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; casual; fortuitous; as, an accidental visit. Nonessential; not necessary belonging; incidental; as, are accidental to a play. A property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything happening accidentally. In painting, 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. In music, a sharp, flat, or natural, occurring not at the commencement of a piece of music as the signature, but before a particular note.
The term accidental is generally understood to mean unexpected or unintended. Hartford Accident & Indem. Co. v. United States Fidelity & Guar. Co.. 962 F.2d 1484 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 113 S. Ct. 411, 121 L. Ed. 2d 335 (1992).
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 ...