1
as in accidental
happening by chance
an incidental meeting of two ships in the middle of the Atlantic
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in minor
lacking importance
we still have to work out a few incidental details, but the proposal is largely complete
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in nonessential
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of incidental
Boyd Van Dijk, Foreign Affairs, 30 Apr. 2025
The audience reach wasn’t just incidental—it was engineered.
—Tony Bradley, Forbes.com, 20 Apr. 2025
Jason Stauffer, CNBC, 19 Feb. 2025
Visa Infinite: Offers the highest levels of protection and premium perks like airport lounge access and airline incidentals statement credit.
—Ryley Amond, CNBC, 4 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for incidental
Adjective
Within the emerging framework, a government at war could claim that starving enemy combatants remained legal and that as a result, incidental civilian deaths were tragic but nearly unavoidable outcomes of a legitimate method of modern warfare against totalitarian enemies.
—Boyd Van Dijk, Foreign Affairs, 30 Apr. 2025
The audience reach wasn’t just incidental—it was engineered.
—Tony Bradley, Forbes.com, 20 Apr. 2025
Noun
Select one qualifying airline to receive up to $200 back per year on baggage fees and other incidentals.
—Jason Stauffer, CNBC, 19 Feb. 2025
Visa Infinite: Offers the highest levels of protection and premium perks like airport lounge access and airline incidentals statement credit.
—Ryley Amond, CNBC, 4 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for incidental
Recent Examples of Synonyms for incidental
Adjective
-
The coroner found that no foul play was involved, and that his death was accidental.—
Patt Morrison,
Los Angeles Times,
24 May 2025
-
The accidental shooting unfolded on Wednesday inside an apartment in northeast D.C., located on 1700 block of Benning Road.—
Jessica Schladebeck,
New York Daily News,
23 May 2025
Adjective
-
Paramedics rushed 27 victims to hospital, including two who were said to be seriously wounded, while a further 20 fans were treated at the scene for minor injuries.—
Chloe Mayer
Shane Croucher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 May 2025
-
Troopers said the two boys were hospitalized with minor injuries.—
Olivia Lloyd,
Miami Herald,
27 May 2025
Adjective
-
To meet rising demand, companies sprang up and began churning out rides – smaller versions for traveling carnivals and larger ones for town squares and amusement parks.—
Christopher Cann,
USA Today,
26 May 2025
-
The second season of HBO's zombie smash ends with battles both big and small, a major death, and a time rewind.—
Sara Netzley,
EW.com,
26 May 2025
Noun
-
Injectable treatments like fillers are often used to make faces proportionally thinner by heightening cheekbones and squaring out the jaw.—
Nicola Dall'Asen,
Allure,
20 May 2025
-
The keratin here works like a filler, plugging gaps in the hair cuticle, while vitamin E and coconut oil bring moisture and flexibility back into the picture.—
Neha Tandon,
Glamour,
19 May 2025
Adjective
-
The musical features a scene about little Sarah making her joke about Jeffrey’s death and no one laughing.—
Stephen Rodrick,
Rolling Stone,
18 May 2025
-
When Carter was little, his mother always included him in her life, as Anderson told PEOPLE in 2016.—
Julie Tremaine,
People.com,
18 May 2025
Noun
-
Other major tech firms, including Microsoft and Google, operate their South African subsidiaries using this economic model.—
Toby Shapshak,
Forbes.com,
23 May 2025
-
Microsoft and its GitHub coding platform subsidiary also joined MCP’s steering committee.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
20 May 2025
Adjective
-
Add slight tweaks to his pre-pitch charge and compression, Blue Jays hitting coach David Popkins said, and Varsho now works above and down to the ball.—
Mitch Bannon,
New York Times,
19 May 2025
-
Meanwhile, a DeepMind researcher discussed adversarial machine learning, a phenomenon where slight manipulations to input data can drastically alter an AI’s output.—
Korok Ray,
Forbes.com,
19 May 2025
Noun
-
The Basic plan gets you just the VPN for $12.99 a month, while the other plans tack on a bunch of extras.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
19 May 2025
-
Featuring around 320 extras, each episode was filmed in a four-week block that mostly comprised technical practices and rehearsals.—
Max Goldbart,
Deadline,
16 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Incidental.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/incidental. Accessed 2 Jun. 2025.
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