different between occasional vs adventitious

English

Etymology

occasion +? -al

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ke??(?)n?l/
• Hyphenation: oc?ca?sion?al

Adjective

occasional (not comparable)

1. Occurring or appearing irregularly from time to time, but not often.

2. Created for a specific occasion.

3. Intended for use as the occasion requires.

4. Acting in the indicated role from time to time.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

occasional (plural occasionals)

1. A person who does something only occasionally.

References

• occasional at OneLook Dictionary Search
• occasional in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Etymology

From Latin adventicius (“foreign”), from adveni? (“arrive”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æd.v?n?t??.?s/, /?æd.v?n?t??.?s/
• (Northern California)

Adjective

adventitious (comparative more adventitious, superlative most adventitious)

1. From an external source; not innate or inherent, foreign.
2. Accidental, additional, appearing casually.
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 30:

     The adventitious disappearance of those nearer the throne than the duke had, moreover, set tongues awagging.

3. (genetics, medicine) Not congenital; acquired.
4. (biology) Developing in an unusual place or from an unusual source.
   • 1985, R. M. T. Dahlgren, H. T. Clifford, & P. F. Yeo, The Families of the Monocotyledons, page 101

     The Velloziaceae have evolved a woody stem which is covered with a layer of adventitious roots mingled with the fibres of the old leaf sheaths;

Synonyms

• (from an external source): extrinsic
• (accidental, additional): accidental, spontaneous, sporadic; see also Thesaurus:accidental
• (not congenital): acquired

Derived terms

• adventitiously
• adventitiousness

Related terms

Translations