Meaning of accident in English

accident

noun

/ˈæk.sɪ.dənt/ us

/ˈæk.sə.dənt/

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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

accidentAccidents at work can sometimes result in serious injury.
mishapDue to a surgical mishap, she's lost the use of her left arm.
mischanceIt would be a great loss if, by some mischance, the message was never received.
misfortuneThey were beset by misfortunes their whole lives.
misadventureThe film was about his comic misadventures in love.
death by misadventureUK The coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.

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Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

a traffic accident

accidentAn accident on the M11 is blocking traffic in a northerly direction.
collisionPolice responded to the collision and closed the road.
head-onBoth drivers were injured in the head-on collision.
shuntUK My insurance company refused to pay out after my little shunt.
crashA serious crash on the motorway yesterday led to its closure for two hours.
car crashHe died in a car crash.

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[ 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 examplesFewer examples

I was hardly able to move my arm after the accident.
She injured her spine in a riding accident.
Did you leave his name out by accident or was it intentional?
It was an accident - I didn't mean to break it, honestly.
The company refused to accept responsibility for the accident.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Accidents and disasters

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Chance and randomness

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 ]

/ˈæk·sə·dənt, -ˌdent/

accident noun [C] (INJURY)

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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.

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.

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

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

accident of birth

It is no longer an accident of birth.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

accident prevention

The reduction of home hazards was a frequent focus of accident prevention work.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with accident

What is the pronunciation of accident?

Translations of accident

in Chinese (Traditional)

意外, 不測, 事故…

Meaning of accident in English

Idioms

accident | American Dictionary

accident noun [C] (INJURY)

accident noun [C] (EVENT NOT PLANNED)

accidental

accidentally

Idiom

Examples of accident

Collocations with accident

accident

Translations of accident

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