as in extrinsic
not being a vital part of or belonging to something
the point of view that art should be for art's sake and that moral considerations are adventitious to the study of art
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Recent Examples of adventitious
Lauren Heller Since Sagittarians are willing to try anything once, the Fire sign resembles Lauren's adventitious persona.
—
Lisa Stardust, People.com, 31 Mar. 2025
The patchy and adventitious quality of Jameson’s reconstruction must make clear his difference as a thinker.
—Mark Greif, Harper's Magazine, 26 July 2024
The cut appears to have been high enough that the stump should still have enough adventitious buds to regrow.
—Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post, 3 Oct. 2023
Plant Deep — Really Deep Tomatoes have the ability to produce roots off their stems, known as adventitious roots.
—Margaret Roach, New York Times, 12 May 2020
This can also occur when trees are planted too deep, as adventitious (growing sideways from the stem) roots grow against the stem and squeeze the sapwood.
—Rebecca Jepsen, The Mercury News, 28 Aug. 2019
Lisa Stardust, People.com, 31 Mar. 2025
The patchy and adventitious quality of Jameson’s reconstruction must make clear his difference as a thinker.
—Mark Greif, Harper's Magazine, 26 July 2024
The cut appears to have been high enough that the stump should still have enough adventitious buds to regrow.
—Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post, 3 Oct. 2023
Plant Deep — Really Deep Tomatoes have the ability to produce roots off their stems, known as adventitious roots.
—Margaret Roach, New York Times, 12 May 2020
This can also occur when trees are planted too deep, as adventitious (growing sideways from the stem) roots grow against the stem and squeeze the sapwood.
—Rebecca Jepsen, The Mercury News, 28 Aug. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for adventitious
Adjective
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The appeal supports the notion that an extrinsic test wouldn’t be the only way to assess the similarity between the songs.—
Larisha Paul,
Rolling Stone,
1 May 2025
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Our motivations—both intrinsic and extrinsic—propel us to acquire new skills, build meaningful relationships and progressively assert our autonomy by taking control of our actions.—
Davide Sartini,
Forbes.com,
1 May 2025
Adjective
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This is pretty much your standard-issue focus-group scene, with dopey viewers idiotically nitpicking irrelevant details.—
Jessica M. Goldstein,
Vulture,
2 May 2025
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And Colorado was about as irrelevant as any power-conference program in the country by the end of the 2022 season.—
Stewart Mandel,
New York Times,
30 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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The idea came from observing hydrocarbon reservoirs in northern Italy’s Po Valley over two decades — essentially storage wells where gas coming from external pipelines is pumped and stored in summer to create reserves for Italy in winter.—
Julia Buckley,
CNN Money,
4 May 2025
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Breslow said the team will be open to exploring external options on the trade and free-agent market going forward, but there is nothing imminent on that front.—
Jen McCaffrey,
New York Times,
3 May 2025
Adjective
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But the story could be streamlined and clarified by cutting out some of the extraneous characters not crucial to the plot.—
Pam Kragen,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
22 Apr. 2025
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But there’s a fundamental contradiction in seeing nature as something that’s extraneous to humankind.—
Farah Nayeri,
New York Times,
12 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Their partnership was born from an accidental introduction at a content conference in Miami.—
Matthew Kayse,
USA Today,
1 May 2025
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And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have gotten rid of divisions that oversee databases on things like accidental deaths and injuries, including fatal shootings, poisonings and motor vehicle crashes.—
Joshua P. Cohen,
Forbes.com,
1 May 2025
Adjective
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Possessing no eyes, no mouth and no face, with an almost alien lurching gait, that nightmarish figure will reappear every so often, its return always upsetting and unexplained.—
Tim Grierson,
Los Angeles Times,
2 May 2025
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Wallace played Mary, the mother of Barrymore’s Gertie, Robert MacNaughton’s Michael and Henry Thomas’s Elliott, who finds the alien E.T. and protects him in their home.—
Victoria Edel,
People.com,
2 May 2025
Adjective
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Tariffs would hinder foreign producers and boost domestic manufacturers, reinvigorating regions left behind as the sector's jobs moved overseas, Trump said.—
Max Zahn,
ABC News,
29 Apr. 2025
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The ministry also said that foreign guests from more than 20 countries and organizations, including the U.S., will participate in the celebration this year.—
Nga Pham,
NPR,
29 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Adventitious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/adventitious. Accessed 13 May. 2025.
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