adventitious

adjective

ad·ven·ti·tious | \ ˌad-(ˌ)ven-ˈti-shəs

How to pronounce adventitious (audio)

, -vən-\

Definition of adventitious

1 : coming from another source and not inherent or innate a Federal house without adventitious later additions adventitious influences

2 : arising or occurring sporadically or in other than the usual location adventitious roots

Other Words from adventitious Synonyms & Antonyms Did You Know? More Example Sentences Learn More about adventitious

Keep scrolling for more

Did You Know?

Adventitious is an adventitious word: it comes to English from the Latin adventicius, meaning "coming from outside." This, in turn, comes from "adventus," the past participle of the verb advenire, meaning "to arrive" or "to happen." That verb is also a source of several other English words, including "advent" (which, in its uncapitalized form, can refer to any coming or arrival), "adventure" (a word whose earliest sense was "chance happening"), and "avenue" (a means of arrival).

Examples of adventitious in a Sentence

the point of view that art should be for art's sake and that moral considerations are adventitious to the study of art

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about adventitious

Listen to Our Podcast about adventitious

Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP

Dictionary Entries near adventitious

adventitial cell

adventitious bud

adventitious membrane

adventitiousness

Statistics for adventitious

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for adventitious

The first known use of adventitious was in 1603

See more words from the same year

Keep scrolling for more

More Definitions for adventitious

adventitious

adjective

ad·ven·ti·tious | \ -əs

\

Medical Definition of adventitious

1a : arising sporadically or in other than the usual location an adventitious part in embryonic development

b : occurring spontaneously or accidentally in a country or region to which it is not native an adventitious insect

2 : adventitial

3 : not congenital adventitious deafness

Comments on adventitious

What made you want to look up adventitious? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

WORD OF THE DAY

intoxicate

to affect and impair by alcohol or a drug

Test Your Vocabulary

Words from Greek and Latin Quiz

Which of the following months comes from a Latin word for “ten”?

How Strong Is Your Vocabulary?

Test your vocabulary with our 10-question quiz!

TAKE THE QUIZ

SCRABBLE® Sprint

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ