accidence

noun

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ac·ci·dence | \ ˈak-sə-dən(t)s

, -ˌden(t)s \

Definition of accidence

grammar

: a part of grammar that deals with inflections (see inflection sense 2a) Inflectional morphology studies the way in which words vary (or "in-flect"), in order to express grammatical contrasts in sentences, such as singular/plural or past/present tense. In older grammar books, this branch of the subject was referred to as "accidence."— David Crystal Grammar has become that branch of linguistics that deals with a language's inflexions (accidence), other structures of words (morphology), its phonetics system (phonology), and the arrangement of its words in sentences (syntax).— Philip Howard