incidental
adjective/ˌɪnsɪˈdentl/
/ˌɪnsɪˈdentl/
- incidental (to something) happening in connection with something else, but not as important as it, or not intended
- The discovery was incidental to their main research.
- incidental music (= music used with a play or a film to give atmosphere)
- You may be able to get help with incidental expenses (= small costs that you have in connection with something).
Extra Examples- Information skills are not merely incidental to the curriculum but central to it.
- The fact that the concert made a profit was considered incidental.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- entirely
- purely
- merely
- …
- to
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- incidental to something (specialist) happening as a natural result of something
- These risks are incidental to the work of a firefighter.
Word Originearly 17th cent.: originally from medieval Latin incidentalis, from Latin incident- ‘falling upon, happening to’, from the verb incidere, from in- ‘upon’ + cadere ‘to fall’.
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incidental