cad-, cas-, cid-

That section of grammar that deals with the inflections or changes in the forms of words: The accidence of languages involves words, or parts of words, which are arranged in formally similar sets consisting of a root, or base, and various affixes (prefixes and suffixes).

1. An undesirable or unfortunate happening that occurs unintentionally and usually results in harm, injury, damage, or loss; casualty; mishap: Jean had an accident when she fell down the stairs and broke her left leg..

A three-car accident tied up the highway traffic for five hours.

2. In law, a situation resulting in injury that is in no way the fault of the injured person for which compensation or indemnity is legally sought: The lawyer explained that the accident involving her client was not his fault and he should not be charged by the police.
3. Any event that happens unexpectedly, without a deliberate plan or reason: Tamika met her best friend purely by accident when she was shopping at the Farmers' Market.
4. By chance; fortune; luck: Sam arrived just in time for a meeting by accident because he didn't know when it was supposed to start.
5. A fortuitous circumstance, quality, or characteristic: It was a fortuitous accident that the house that Jake bought was on the north side of the street so his children could go to the school just across the park.
6. Etymology: "an occurrence, an incident, or an event"; from Old French accident (12th century), from Latin accidentem, accidens, accidere, "to happen, to fall out, to fall upon"; from ad-, "to" + cadere, "to fall".

1. Pertaining to an unexpected usually sudden event that occurs without intent or volition although sometimes through carelessness, unawareness, ignorance, or a combination of causes and which produces an unfortunate result (as an injury) for which the affected party may be entitled to relief under the law or to compensation under an insurance policy: The accidental collision between the two cars was being investigated by the police.
2. Regarding something that happens by chance; unplanned, unintentional, unpremeditated, uncalculated; unexpected, fortuitous; random: The meeting of Dale and Mike on the street was purely accidental.

A reference to how something happens and is not intended or expected: It was decided that Gertrud's mother accidentally died when she fell down the stairs to her basement.

Nonstandard, accidentally; unintentionally; by chance: When Jane was in school, she wrote the word accidently on the black board, and her teacher corrected her with the standardized form with "accidentally".

This word is often mispronounced and misspelled The word has five syllables ac-ci-den-tal-ly.

The use of accidently is considered a gross error and displays a lack of knowledge of what is supposed to be the correct spelling and pronunciation.

1. A dead body, especially one that is to be dissected; a corpse: When Carol was studying human anatomy, she had to dissect a cadaver so she could learn to identify the various muscles, ligaments, etc.
2. A dead human body that may be used by physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in another living human being: There were several new cadavers donated to the university medical school for the anatomy classes.
3. Etymology: borrowed from Latin cadaver from cadere, "to fall, to fall dead, to sink down, to die"; literally, "a fall".

Students in medical schools study and dissect cadavers as part of their education. Others who study cadavers include archaeologists and artists.

It is said that the great Renaissance artist Michelangelo (1475-1564) studied cadavers by candlelight in a dark morgue (while enduring the smell of rotting flesh) in order to better understand the structures of bones, sinews, and muscles.

The fruits of his efforts are evident in his painting "The Creation of Adam" on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome and in his marble sculpture "David" in the Galleria dell' Accademia in Florence.

Courts of law sometimes use the term cadaver to refer to a dead body, as do recovery teams searching for bodies after a natural disaster; such as, an earthquake or a flood. A dead body is usually a corpse in a mystery story. The term cadaver also has a more deathly ring when it is used by medical professionals.

The grafting of tissue from a dead body onto a living human to repair a physical defect: The doctors in the plastic surgery department of the hospital relied on a tissue bank for cadaver grafts.

Referring to a corpse or dead body: The cadaveric body was removed from the grave by the police in order to finalize their murder investigation.

1. The stiffening of the muscles that occurs several hours after someone has died: The medical examiner noted the degree of cadaveric rigidity or rigor mortis that was present as part of the estimation of the time of the victim's death.
2. The hardening of the muscular tissues of the body, from one to seven hours after death as a result of the coagulation of the myosinogen and paramyosinogen: The cadaveric rigidity disappears after one to five or six days, or when decomposition begins.

Sometimes the rigor mortis, or cadaveric rigidity in the corpse, makes it difficult to fit the body into the coffin for burial.

3. The postmortem stiffening of the voluntary and involuntary muscles of the body present a board-like situation for the entire body: The development of cadaveric rigidity may be poor or incomplete in elderly, very young, or severely debilitated individuals.

A muscle spasm, or muscular contraction, that causes a recently dead body to twitch or jerk: The new police recruit was startled by the cadaveric spasm he observed during the routine police investigation at the death scene."

Inhabiting or living in a dead body; also eating dead bodies or carrion: Maggots were cadavericoling a dead chicken's body by the side of the path as Max was going for a walk.

Descriptive of an organisms that live in and eat inside decomposing organic matter, such as dead bodies: Maggots are examples of cadavericolous creatures that are found in decaying bodies.

Resembling a dead body: Sally has a cadaverous odor and an extremely thin and deathly pale skin that has resulted from the terrible disease that she has. © ALL rights are reserved.

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The appearance of death or of a deathly illness: The cadaverousness of her appearance was a result of the severe disease Molly had experienced.

1. The rhythmic pattern of a person's voice which changes by gently rising and falling as he or she is talking: The cadence of the speaker's voice was well modulated and made listening to her speech easy to understand.

Sometimes it is possible for some people to recognize which foreign language is being spoken just by listening to the cadence of the words.

2. A regular beat or rhythmic movement when dancing or marching: There was a steady cadence of the drums near the end of the concert.