| accident | 1. Literally, a befalling; an event that takes place without one's foresight or expectation; an undesigned, sudden, and unexpected event; chance; contingency; often, an undesigned and unforeseen occurrence of an afflictive or unfortunate character; a casualty; a mishap; as, to die by an accident. "Of moving accidents by flood and field." (Shak) "Thou cam'st not to thy place by accident: It is the very place God meant for thee." (Trench) 2. A property attached to a word, but not essential to it, as gender, number, case. 3. A point or mark which may be retained or omitted in a coat of arms. 4. <logic> A property or quality of a thing which is not essential to it, as whiteness in paper; an attribute. A quality or attribute in distinction from the substance, as sweetness, softness. 5. Any accidental property, fact, or relation; an accidental or nonessential; as, beauty is an accident. "This accident, as I call it, of Athens being situated some miles from the sea." (J. P. Mahaffy) 6. Unusual appearance or effect. Accident, in Law, is equivalent to casus, or such unforeseen, extraordinary, extraneous interference as is out of the range of ordinary calculation. Origin: F. Accident, fr. L. Accidens, -dentis, p. Pr. Of accidere to happen; ad + cadere to fall. See Cadence, Case. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| accident neurosis | Any functional nervous disorder following an accident or injury. See: posttraumatic stress disorder. Synonym: accident neurosis, posttraumatic neurosis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| accident proneness | Tendency toward involvement in accidents. Implies certain personality characteristics which predispose to accidents. (12 Dec 1998) |
| accident-prone | 1. Having a greater number of accidents than would be expected of the average person in similar circumstances. 2. Having personality characteristics predisposing one to accidents. (05 Mar 2000) |
| accidental | Happening unexpectedly or by chance. (18 Nov 1997) |
| accidental abortion | Abortion due to a fall, blow, or other injury. (05 Mar 2000) |
| accidental falls | Falls due to slipping or tripping which result in injury. (12 Dec 1998) |
| accidental host | One that harbors an organism which usually does not infect it. (05 Mar 2000) |
| accidental hypothermia | Unintentional decrease in body temperature, especially in the newborn, infants, and elderly, particularly during operations. (05 Mar 2000) |
| accidental image | Continuation of visual impression after cessation of stimuli causing the original image. (12 Dec 1998) |
| accidental murmur | An evanescent cardiac murmur not due to valvular lesion. (05 Mar 2000) |
| accidental symptom | Any morbid phenomenon coincidentally occurring in the course of a disease, but having no relation with it. (05 Mar 2000) |
| accidents, occupational | Unforeseen occurrences, especially of an injurious character due to factors involving one's employment. (12 Dec 1998) |
| accidents, radiation | Accidental dispersal of radioactive materials from a radiation source. Accidents at nuclear reactors can involve large groups of the population from dispersion of radioactivity into the environment and through fallout or a few individuals with high injurious doses. (12 Dec 1998) |
| accidents, traffic | Accidents on streets, roads, and highways involving drivers, passengers, pedestrians, or vehicles. Traffic accidents refer to automobiles (passenger cars, buses, and trucks), bicycling, and motorcycles but not off-road motor vehicles, railroads nor snowmobiles. (12 Dec 1998) |