different between incidental vs incongruous

English

Etymology

From incident +? -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ns??d?nt?l/, /?ns??d?nt?l/
  • (US) IPA^(key): (nasal flap) [?ns??d?.???l], (enunciated) [?ns??d?n.t??l]

Adjective

incidental (comparative more incidental, superlative most incidental)

1. Loosely associated; existing as a byproduct, tangent, or accident; being a likely consequence.

   That character, though colorful, is incidental to the overall plot.

2. Occurring by chance
3. (physics, of radiation) Entering or approaching, prior to reflection (more frequently incident).

Synonyms

• (existing as an accident): accidental, contingent; See also Thesaurus:circumstantial
• (occurring by chance): accidental, serendipitous; See also Thesaurus:accidental

Antonyms

• (existing as an accident): inevitable, necessary, impossible; See also Thesaurus:inevitable
• (occurring by chance): inevitable, intentional; See also Thesaurus:intentional

Derived terms

• incidental expense
• incidentally
• incidental music

Related terms

• incident
• incidence

Translations

Noun

incidental (plural incidentals)

1. Minor items, not further defined. Incidental expense.

   She's costing us a lot in incidentals.

2. Something that is incidental.

Translations

Anagrams

• anticlined

Portuguese

Adjective

incidental m or f (plural incidentais, comparable)

1. incidental (existing by chance)

Romanian

Etymology

From French incidentel

Adjective

incidental m or n (feminine singular incidental?, masculine plural incidentali, feminine and neuter plural incidentale)

1. incidental

Declension

Spanish

Adjective

incidental (plural incidentales)

1. incidental (existing by chance)

English

Etymology

From Latin incongruus, from in- (“not”) + congruus (“congruent”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?k?n.???u.?s/, /?n?k??.??u.?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?n?k?n.??u.?s/, /???k??.??u.?s/

Adjective

incongruous (comparative more incongruous, superlative most incongruous)

1. Not similar or congruent; not matching or fitting in.
   • 1853, Charlotte Brontë, Villette, ch. 34:

     [P]erhaps he thought me, with my basket of summer fruit, and my lack of the dignity age confers, an incongruous figure in such a scene.

   • 1912, Jack London, A Son Of The Sun, ch. 1:

     Ardent suns had likewise tanned his face till it was swarthy as a Spaniard's. The yellow mustache appeared incongruous in the midst of such swarthiness.

   • 2014, Daniel Taylor, England and Wayne Rooney see off Scotland in their own back yard (in The Guardian, 18 November 2014)[1]

     For a few moments England toyed with the idea of making it a more difficult night than necessary. Scotland had scored a goal that seemed incongruous to the rest of their performance and, briefly, a fiercely partisan crowd sensed an improbable comeback.

2. (mathematics) Of two numbers, with respect to a third, such that their difference can not be divided by it without a remainder.

   20 and 25 are incongruous with respect to 4.

Derived terms

• incongruously
• incongruousness

Synonyms

• incongruitous

Related terms

• incongruence
• incongruent
• incongruity

Translations