incidental

adjective een-see-den-TAHL Rare

Origin: From Latin incidentalis, 'occurring in connection with'.

Also means

minor

Usage Note

Incidental describes something secondary or occurring as a side effect, not the main point. Música incidental is incidental music (background score for film or theatre). In legal Spanish, cuestión incidental refers to a procedural side matter. The adverb is incidentalmente.

Examples

"Fue un gasto meramente incidental."

Natural Translation

It was a merely incidental expense.

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