Dictionary Definition
accident
Noun
1 a mishap; especially one causing injury or
death
2 anything that happens by chance without an
apparent cause [syn: fortuity, chance
event]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
French accident, from Latin accidens, -dentis, present participle of accidere to happen; ad + cadere to fall. See cadence, case.Pronunciation
- /ˈæk.sə.dənt/, /"
Extensive Definition
An accident is a specific,
identifiable, unexpected, unusual and unintended external event
which occurs in a particular time and place, without apparent or
deliberate cause but with marked effects. It implies a generally
negative probabilistic outcome which
may have been avoided or prevented had circumstances
leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior
to its occurrence.
Narrowly defined, the
designation may refer only to the event, while not including the
circumstances (facts
surrounding) or results
of the event; i.e., ‘accident’ is
constrained to an immediate incident, the occurrence of which
results in an unplanned outcome. In common use, however, ‘accident’
may include the entire interacting circumstantial framework
(chance, pre-existing, or uncontrolled dynamically developing
conditions; commonplace actions; random time and place;
participants; etc.) leading up to, including, and resulting from,
the accident's immediate occurrence. Experts in the field of
injury
prevention avoid use of the term "accident" because they look
at these incidents from the perspective of epidemiology -
predictable and preventable.
Accidents of particularly
common types (auto, fire, etc.) are investigated to identify how to
avoid them in the future. This is sometimes called root
cause analysis, but does not generally apply to accidents that
cannot be deterministically
predicted. For example, a root cause of
an uncommon and purely random accident may never be
identified, and thus future similar
accidents remain "accidental."
Physical examples include,
e.g., unintended collisions or falls, being injured by touching
something sharp, hot, or electrical, or ingesting poison.
Non-physical examples are, e.g, unintentionally revealing a
secret or
otherwise saying something incorrectly, forgetting an appointment,
etc.
The informal term "freak
accident" typically refers to an unfortunate and improbable event
that seems exceedingly unlikely to happen by chance. In extreme
contexts, the term may also imply doubt, ambiguity or suspicion
about an accident event's cause.
Colloquially
considered negative, 'happy' accidents with positive results are
also possible.
The injury
prevention community strongly discourages use of the word
"accident" to describe events that cause injury in attempt to
highlight the predictable and preventable nature of most injuries.
Preferred words are more descriptive of the event itself rather
than of its unintentional nature (e.g., crash, collision, incident, drowning, fall, etc.)
See also
External links
- Community database on Accidents on the Roads in Europe (CARE)
- GotSafety (Safety Tips and Information)
- Car-Accidents.com (Thousands of Photos, and Info on Types of Accidents.)
accident in Czech:
Havárie
accident in Danish: Hændeligt
uheld
accident in German:
Unfall
accident in Spanish:
Accidente
accident in Esperanto:
Akcidento
accident in Persian:
حادثه
accident in French:
Accident
accident in Galician:
Accidente
accident in Italian: Sinistro
(assicurazione)
accident in Hebrew:
תאונה
accident in Malagasy:
Loza
accident in Malay
(macrolanguage): Kemalangan
accident in Dutch:
Ongeluk
accident in Japanese:
事故
accident in Polish:
Awaria
accident in Portuguese:
Acidente
accident in Romanian:
Accident
accident in Russian:
Авария
accident in Albanian:
Fatkeqësia
accident in Sicilian:
Accidenti
accident in Simple English:
Accident
accident in Finnish:
Vahinko
accident in Swedish:
Olycka
accident in Tagalog:
Aksidente
accident in Ukrainian:
Аварія
accident in Yiddish:
עקסידענט
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
accessary, accessory, accidental, addendum, addition, adjunct, adventure, appendage, appurtenance, auxiliary, blow, blunder, calamity, casualty, cataclysm, catastrophe, chance, chance hit, collateral, collision, coming to be,
contingency,
contingent, contretemps, crack-up,
crash, destiny, disaster, event, eventuality, eventuation, extra, fate, fluke, fortuity, fortune, freak accident,
grief, hap, happening, happenstance, hazard, ill hap, incidence, incidental, inessential, kismet, long odds, long shot,
luck, lucky shot, materialization, mere
chance, misadventure, mischance, misfortune, mishap, mistake, nasty blow, nonessential, not-self,
other, pileup, realization, secondary, serendipity, shipwreck, shock, smash, smashup, staggering blow,
subsidiary, superaddition, supplement, tragedy, unessential, wreck