coincidental

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /koʊˌɪnsɪˈdɛntəl/ UK /kəʊˌɪnsɪˈdentəl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
happening by chance rather than by design

Their meeting at the airport was purely coincidental.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · happening by chance rather... accidental fortuitous chance unintendedunplannedflukyserendipitous

Opposites

deliberate intentional planned designed

Word family

Derived forms coincidentally

Related forms coincide coincidence coincident

Etymology

From coincidence + -al, from Medieval Latin coincidere 'to fall together', from co- 'together' + incidere 'to fall upon', from cadere 'to fall'.

coincidere Latin cadere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# coincidental

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /koʊˌɪnsɪˈdɛntəl/
**IPA (UK):** /kəʊˌɪnsɪˈdentəl/

## Meanings
1. happening by chance rather than by design

## Examples
- Their meeting at the airport was purely coincidental.

## Synonyms
- accidental
- fortuitous
- chance
- unintended
- unplanned
- fluky
- serendipitous

## Antonyms
- deliberate
- intentional
- planned
- designed

## Derived Forms
- coincidentally

## Related Forms
- coincide
- coincidence
- coincident

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: coincidere
- Root: cadere

## Etymology
From coincidence + -al, from Medieval Latin coincidere 'to fall together', from co- 'together' + incidere 'to fall upon', from cadere 'to fall'.

## AI Etymology
Coincidental comes from coincidence + -al, from Medieval Latin coincidere 'to fall together', from co- 'together' + incidere 'to fall upon', from cadere 'to fall'. The historical trail runs through coincidere in Latin and cadere in Latin. Morphologically, coincidental is transparent: it draws on coincidence + -al, from Medieval Latin coincidere 'to fall together', from co- 'together' + incidere 'to fall upon', from cadere 'to fall'. Used as an adjective, coincidental now means "happening by chance rather than by design", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as coincidentally and related forms such as coincide, coincidence, and coincident. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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