accidence

[ ak-si-duhns ]

noun

1. the rudiments or essentials of a subject.
2. Grammar.
   1. the study of inflection as a grammatical device.
   2. the inflections so studied.

accidence

/ ˈæksɪdəns /

noun

1. inflectional morphology; the part of grammar concerned with changes in the form of words by internal modification or by affixation, for the expression of tense, person, case, number, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of accidence¹

1500–1510; < Latin accidentia, neuter plural of accidēns (present participle of accidere to fall, befall). See accident

Word History and Origins

Origin of accidence¹

C15: from Latin accidentia accidental matters, hence inflections of words, from accidere to happen. See accident

Example Sentences

But, as Oliver Kamm points out in his book Accidence Will Happen: The Non-Pedantic Guide To English Usage, enormousness meant moral wickedness before it meant enormousness, so where does that leave us?

From The Guardian

The titles of 24 Canadian short films were announced, including the North American premiere of Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson’s “Accidence.”

From Los Angeles Times

Williams lost his wife Ingrid in a car accidence in 2016.

From Washington Times

The Times leader writer, Oliver Kamm, author of Accidence Will Happen: The Non-Pedantic Guide to English, says that the swearing lexicon now draws less from religion and more from body effluvia.

From BBC

“If you ask me, it’s all that schooling. It takes the fun out of life, being cooped up like that day after day. And the Latin they cram down your throat! Do you realize, Kit, there are twenty-five different kinds of nouns alone in the Accidence? I couldn’t stomach it.”

From Literature

Related Words

• alphabet
• syntax