incident - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Recorded since 1412, from Middle French incident, from Latin incidens, the present active participle of incidō (“to happen, befall”), itself from in- (“on”) + -cidō, the combining form of cadō (“to fall”).

incident (countable and uncountable, plural incidents)

  1. (countable, uncountable) An event or occurrence.
    Synonyms: proceeding; see also Thesaurus:occurrence
    She could not recall the time of the incident.
    It was an incident that he hoped to forget.
    The suspect was released without further incident.
    • 2025 October 15, Vitali Vitaliev, “The recipe for Swiss bliss”, in RAIL, number 1046, page 68:
      Where else in the world can you pre-order sushi and fondue on some of the trains, travel in family carriages equipped with mini-playgrounds, or use a request stop button at some small stations? Where else can you hear the announcement: "The train at Platform 4 is ten minutes late due to an incident in another country," as I did once at the Swiss station of Spiez?
  2. A (relatively minor) event that is incidental to, or related to others.
  3. An event that causes or may cause an interruption or a crisis, such as a workplace illness or a software error.
    1. (often used in apposition) An event affecting an aircraft, usually a plane crash.

event or occurrence

(minor) event incidental to others

event causing interruption or crisis

incident (not comparable)

  1. Arising as the result of an event, inherent.
    No major hazards incident to this job.
    • 1980 December 6, Cindy Rizzo, “Jewish, Lesbian, Feminist, Psychologist, Author—All of the above and more”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 20, page 9:
      It is at this juncture that Toder launches into the familiar and troubling topic of monogamy versus non-monogamy. She outwardly expresses no preference for either option, considering each to hold certain consequences incident to it.
  2. (physics, of a stream of particles or radiation) Falling on or striking a surface.
    The incident light illuminated the surface.
  3. Coming or happening accidentally; not in the usual course of things; not in connection with the main design; not according to expectation; casual; fortuitous.
    • [1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):
      As the ordinary course of common affairs is disposed of by general laws, so likewise men's rarer incident necessities and utilities should be with special equity considered.
  4. Liable to happen; apt to occur; befalling; hence, naturally happening or appertaining.
    • 17th century, Richard Milward, "Preface" to Seldeniana
      the studies incident to his profession
    • 1816, Richard Lawrence, The complete farrier, and British sportsman, page 245:
      The Vives, like the strangles, is most incident to young horses, and usually proceeds from the same causes, such as catching cold, being over-heated, or over-worked, about the time of shedding their teeth.
  5. (law) Dependent upon, or appertaining to, another thing, called the principal.
  6. (mathematics) In a relation of incidence
    • 2005, Reinhard Diestel, Graph Theory - Electronic Edition, 3rd edition, page 12:
      The second inequality follows from the fact that all the edges incident with a fixed vertex separate [an arbitrary graph] G.
    • 1968, Peter Dembowski, Finite Geometries, page 315:
      If there is only one ideal point U and only one ideal line u, then either (i) every point in u is incident with a line in U, or else (ii) no point in u is incident with any line of U.

arising as the result of an event

physics: falling on a surface

liable to happen; naturally happening or appertaining

legal: dependent upon, or appertaining to, another thing

incident m (plural incidents)

  1. incident

Borrowed from Middle French incident, from Old French incident, from Latin incidēns.

incident n (plural incidenten, no diminutive)

  1. an incident
    Synonym: voorval

Learned borrowing from Latin incidens.

incident m (plural incidents)

  1. incident

incident (feminine incidente, masculine plural incidents, feminine plural incidentes)

  1. incidental
  2. (physics) incident

Form of the verb incidō (“to fall upon”).

incident

  1. third-person plural future active indicative of incidō

Form of the verb incīdō (“to cut or hew open”).

incīdent

  1. third-person plural future active indicative of incīdō

Borrowed from French incident.

incident m or n (feminine singular incidentă, masculine plural incidenți, feminine/neuter plural incidente)

  1. incidental

incìdent m inan (Cyrillic spelling инцѝдент)

  1. incident

incident c

  1. an incident (unexpected, disruptive event)