adventitious
/ˌadv(ə)nˈtɪʃəs
/adjective
1Happening as a result of an external factor or chance rather than design or inherent nature: adventitious similarities...
- Then, as if in tribute to the adventitious nature of idea generation, the solution came to him in his sleep.
- Nowhere was this adventitious attitude to life more evident than in the rural music scene.
- The influence a writer can exert is purely adventitious.
Synonyms
unplanned, unpremeditated, accidental, unintentional, unintended, unexpected, unforeseen, involuntary, chance, fortuitous, serendipitous, coincidental, casual, random, fluky, unlooked-for, unhoped-for, not bargained for, out of the blue, without warning
rare aleatory
1.1Coming from outside; not native: the adventitious population...
- No adventitious spooks are required to account for this-the ‘laws’ of biochemistry and physics are spooky enough.
- One possible source for this high frequency dispersion could be trace amounts of adventitious oxygen or contributions from iron.
- Indeed, it has been proposed that these adventitious materials play a role in in meso crystallization.
Synonyms
foreign, alien, non-native, outside, external, extraneous, extrinsic
1.2 Biology Formed accidentally or in an unusual anatomical position: adventitious lobes may appear between the primaries...
- It has previously been shown that adventitious organogenesis and embryogenesis could occur in parallel from in vitro-cultured tissues of Helianthus.
- In adventitious embryony, the embryo develops directly from nucellar or chalazal tissue without an intervening gametophyte stage.
- Flight-feather molt categories were symmetric, adventitious, and juvenal.
1.3 Botany (Of a root, shoot, etc.) produced in an unusual part of a plant.The total number of primary adventitious roots per plant was closely correlated with corm dry weight....
- The young parasite then develops a tubercle, with adventitious roots and a shoot.
- Oxygen transport from shoot through adventitious roots has been visualized directly.
Derivatives
adventitiously
- That is, idiosyncratic behavior may develop adventitiously.
- Leafy shoots are borne adventitiously on the dorsal side of the long, creeping root.
- On the facts as we understand them, it was an offence adventitiously committed.
Origin
Early 17th century: from Latin adventicius 'coming to us from abroad' (from advenire 'arrive') + -ous (see also -itious2).