Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Not inherent but added extrinsically. See Synonyms at accidental.
- adj. Biology Of or belonging to a structure that develops in an unusual place: adventitious roots.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Added extrinsically; not springing from the essence of the subject, but from another source; foreign; accidentally or casually acquired: applied to that which does not properly belong to a subject, but which is superadded or adopted, as in a picture or other work of art, to give it additional power or effect.
- In botany and zoology, appearing casually, or in an abnormal or unusual position or place; occurring as a straggler or away from its natural position or habitation; adventive.
- In anatomy, of the nature of adventitia: as, the adventitious coat of an artery.
- In phytogeography, naturalized from a distant formation: opposed to *vicine. A term proposed by Pound and Clements. Compare adventitious, 2.
Wiktionary
- adj. From an external source; not innate or inherent, foreign.
- adj. Accidental, additional, appearing casually.
- adj. Not congenital; acquired.
- adj. Developing in an unusual place or from an unusual source.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Added extrinsically; not essentially inherent; accidental or causal; additional; supervenient; foreign.
- adj. Out of the proper or usual place.
- adj. Accidentally or sparingly spontaneous in a country or district; not fully naturalized; adventive; -- applied to foreign plants.
- adj. Acquired, as diseases; accidental.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. associated by chance and not an integral part
Etymologies
- From Latin adventīcius, foreign, from adventus, arrival; see advent.
Examples
“Cuttings are plant pieces, usually stems or branches, capable of growing new roots, called adventitious roots.”
“Leaf-buds occasionally arise from the roots, when they are called adventitious; this occurs in many fruit trees, poplars, elms and others.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Part 1, Slice 1
“But as it was occasionally inexpedient to carry about measuring-chains a boy would do well to know the precise length of his own foot-pace, so that when he was deprived of what Hurree Chunder called adventitious aids 'he might still tread his distances.”
“But as it was occasionally inexpedient to carry about measuring-chains a boy would do well to know the precise length of his own foot-pace, so that when he was deprived of what Hurree Chunder called adventitious aids’ he might still tread his distances.”
“If Barnes once called the contest "posh bingo", this year looks a lot less adventitious.”
The Guardian: The Man Booker judges seem to find reading a bit hard | Catherine Bennett
“Third, probably very few of the participants (other than perhaps adventitious semi-professional looters) expected to gain anything in terms of significant personal profit or meaningful social betterment as a consequence of the upheavals in Los Angeles.”
“Things he did, no matter how adventitious or spontaneous, struck the popular imagination as remarkable.”
“In one of David Attenborough's 'The Private Life Of Plants' episodes, he talks on similar fallen trunks that eventually give rise to a row of other daughter 'trees' growing out of the main trunk; these eventually grow adventitious roots and become independent.”
“As Meeker sees comedy as having a biological rather than idealistic focus, so Baillie sees it as properly centering on the “original distinctions of nature” rather than on the “adventitious distinctions ... of age, fortune, rank, profession, and country” (13).”
“The skilled reader is not dependent on the adventitious aids of easiness or brightness; he is no longer, for instance, dependent upon plot for his enjoyment of fiction, or upon what is called 'actuality' or 'incident', or mere verisimilitude of description.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘adventitious’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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briwref's list
defalcation, macerate, beldam, nescience, ochlocracy, bibelot, estivate, spatulated, introversive, mastoidal, belletristic, objurgation and 108 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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y not
gadolinium, Ying Huhai, taciturn, atomic number 39, yttrium, contingent, loose, euxenite, humble, Steve Biko, adventitious, acyclic and 8 more...
jmjarmstrong JM is relaxed about adventitious adventures. Jun 13, 2010
seanahan Totally madeupical. Feb 25, 2008
reesetee For some reason, this always sounds madeupical to me. :-) Feb 23, 2008
chained_bear See calcareous for a usage note. Feb 23, 2008