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
Although individual plants have a lifespan of 30-90 years, adventitious shoots grow up from roots.
—
Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 5 July 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
Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 5 July 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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Common in the Ninth Circuit, the extrinsic test looks at comparison, context and, in a case like this, specific plot elements.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
3 Jan. 2026
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Nonetheless, too many workplaces are organized around extrinsic rewards such as money, titles, team size, and proximity to power, which can spark effort in the short run but rarely sustain it.—
Jon Rosemberg,
Fortune,
9 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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For example, in learning contexts, adaptive forgetting, or the ability to let go of irrelevant information, can actually improve cognitive performance overall.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
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Trump’s detractors may dismiss these bonds as empty or irrelevant.—
Daniel Yudkin,
The Atlantic,
24 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Review focuses on fundamental safety aspects The review focuses on fundamental safety aspects such as design assumptions, fulfilment of key safety functions, defence-in-depth, protection against internal and external hazards, and emergency preparedness.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
23 Jan. 2026
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The chip also lacks Thunderbolt support, so the new MacBook would likely be equipped with regular USB-C ports, with slower data transfer speeds and external display limitations.—
Ewan Spence,
Forbes.com,
23 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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No middle name, no hyphen, no extraneous vowels, three syllables played on a drum.—
Raven Smith,
Vogue,
20 Jan. 2026
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Since both of those earlier years were influenced by a strong El Niño event, this one will have the dubious distinction of being the hottest without such an extraneous force.—
Bill McKibben,
New Yorker,
9 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
Small businesses are no longer accidental victims of attacks aimed at large enterprises.—
Melissa Houston,
Forbes.com,
22 Jan. 2026
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The student deaths were ruled accidental in nature and likely due to a problem with the vehicle’s exhaust, according to the police chief.—
Adriana James-Rodil,
FOXNews.com,
21 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Last season saw Mark further developing his skills with Cecil (Walton Goggins) and the Guardians of the Globe in preparation for an imminent collision with an alien invasion force of Viltrumites.—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
26 Jan. 2026
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The oversharing Cynthia immediately passes this information on to her daughter, leading to a meet-cute in the laundry room that quickly escalates into Mary becoming, well, alien pregnant.—
Katie Rife,
IndieWire,
24 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Visitors to K’gari are warned of the risks, but James says young foreign nationals like his daughter, who work on the island, need firmer guardrails.—
Hilary Whiteman,
CNN Money,
24 Jan. 2026
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Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people, including foreign nationals, remain held in the detention camps.—
Chas Newkey-Burden,
TheWeek,
23 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Adventitious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/adventitious. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.
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