incidental
Other forms: incidentals
Incidental means secondary in time or importance. If you lose weight because you moved and must walk further to school, the weight loss was incidental to the move.
When something is incidental, it is never the main thing. It's okay to include incidental details as they can add depth to your storytelling, but they are never crucial to the story. A company might pay your main expenses when you travel for business but will probably not reimburse you for the incidental ones. The music you hear between acts of a play is called incidental. It's not crucial to the action, but it makes the waiting easier.
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(sometimes followed by `to') minor or casual or subordinate in significance or nature or occurring as a chance concomitant or consequence“incidental expenses”“the road will bring other incidental advantages”“extra duties incidental to the job”“labor problems incidental to a rapid expansion”“confusion incidental to a quick change”
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synonyms:
incident
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omissible
capable of being left out
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parenthetic, parenthetical
qualifying or explaining; placed or as if placed in parentheses
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peripheral
related to the key issue but not of central importance
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secondary
depending on or incidental to what is original or primary
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Antonyms:
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basic
pertaining to or constituting a base or basis
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basal, base
serving as or forming a base
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elemental, elementary, primary
of or being the essential or basic part
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foundational, fundamental, rudimentary, underlying
being or involving basic facts or principles
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grassroots
fundamental
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radical
arising from or going to the root or source
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omissible
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following or accompanying as a consequence“snags incidental to the changeover in management”
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synonyms:
accompanying, attendant, concomitant, consequent, corollary, ensuant, resultant, sequent
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subsequent
following in time or order
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subsequent
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not of prime or central importance
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synonyms:
nonessential
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inessential, unessential
not basic or fundamental
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inessential, unessential
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(frequently plural) an expense not budgeted or not specified“he requested reimbursement of $7 for incidental expenses”
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synonyms:
incidental expense, minor expense
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type of:
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expense
money spent to perform work and usually reimbursed by an employer
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expense
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an item that is incidental
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A paragraph of text
Copy citationVocabulary lists containing incidental
When sixteen-year-old Harrison Meredith finds out that his best friend Linus Munro is moving away, he plans a surprise day of adventures.
When twelve-year-old beach-loving Ohioan Eddie Gordon Holloway runs out of clean clothes, he must finally do his laundry in the basement, where suddenly, the lights go dark.
After finding and returning the wallet of a social media billionaire, Benji and Felix must forge a friendship and spend a five-million-dollar cash reward before their time runs out. Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–14, Chapters 15–30, Chapters 31–44
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