{
    "term": "accident",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "ox3000": true,
    "cefr": "a2",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "an unpleasant event, especially in a vehicle, that happens unexpectedly and causes injury or damage",
            "sensetop": "in an accident",
            "cefr": "a2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a **car/road/traffic accident**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "He was killed in an accident.",
                    "contextForm": "in an accident"
                },
                {
                    "text": "One in seven accidents is caused by sleepy drivers."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The accident happened at 3 p.m."
                },
                {
                    "text": "to **have an accident**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a **serious/minor accident**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a **fatal accident** *(= in which somebody is killed)*"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Every year in the United Kingdom more than 4 000 people die in accidents in the home."
                },
                {
                    "text": "a climbing/riding accident"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Take out **accident insurance** before you go on your trip."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I didn't mean to break it—**it was an accident**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Their boat sank in a **freak accident**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "His son died in a **tragic** cycling **accident**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "There are a number of **accident blackspots** *(= places where lots of accidents happen)* on that road."
                },
                {
                    "text": "We don't know the **cause of the accident**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She was badly **injured in** a motorcycle **accident**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He was badly hurt in an accident involving two cars and a lorry."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She met with an accident while on holiday in Spain."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The ambulance took only six minutes to reach the scene of the accident."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The woman was involved in a road traffic accident."
                },
                {
                    "text": "a fatal road accident"
                },
                {
                    "text": "It is the first fatal accident to have occurred at the factory."
                },
                {
                    "text": "It's Dad. He's had an accident at work."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She broke her arm in a riding accident."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Transport by car or lorry", "Health problems"],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["bad", "dreadful", "horrible"],
                "verb + accident": ["be involved in", "have", "meet with"],
                "accident + verb": ["happen", "occur", "take place"],
                "accident + noun": ["black spot", "victim", "prevention"],
                "preposition": ["in an/​the accident"],
                "phrases": [
                    "an accident involving",
                    "an accident waiting to happen",
                    "the scene of the accident"
                ]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "something that happens by chance and without an obvious cause",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Their early arrival was just an accident."
                },
                {
                    "text": "**It is no accident** that lawn tennis was invented in England."
                },
                {
                    "text": "an **accident of birth/fate/history** *(= describing facts and events that are due to chance or circumstances)*"
                },
                {
                    "text": "It's just an accident of history that the city became part of the Soviet Union."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He claimed that Britain was European only as an accident of geography and that its interests really lay with the United States."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["mere", "pure", "sheer"],
                "preposition": ["by accident"],
                "phrases": [
                    "an accident of birth",
                    "an accident of history",
                    "be no accident that…"
                ]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "a thing or person that is very likely to cause danger or a problem in the future because of the condition it is in or the way they behave",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Any one of these nuclear plants may be a disaster waiting to happen."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Danger"]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "people say accidents will happen to tell somebody who has had an accident, for example breaking something, that it does not matter and they should not worry",
            "examples": []
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "in a way that is not planned or organized",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "We met by accident at the airport."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Helen got into acting purely by accident."
                },
                {
                    "text": "It happened, whether by accident or design, that Steve and I were the last two people to leave."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "a series of unpleasant events caused by bad luck",
            "labels": "(British English)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The whole affair has been a chapter of accidents from start to finish."
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈæksɪdənt/",
                "audio": "ac/accident/accident__gb_2.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈæksɪdənt/",
                "audio": "ac/accident/accident__us_2_rr.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "late Middle English (in the general sense ‘an event’): via Old French from Latin accident- ‘happening’, from the verb accidere, from ad- ‘towards, to’ + cadere ‘to fall’."
}