1. plural of accidence; the inflectional forms of words, especially the changes in word endings that show grammatical relationships (such as tense, number, case, or gender)
Usage: linguistics; grammar; formal
2. plural of accidence; elementary textbooks or treatises on grammar, especially those dealing with the inflectional system of a language
Usage: archaic; educational

Examples

• The Latin accidences include nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative cases.
• Students of ancient Greek must master the accidences before attempting to read Homer.
• The accidences of English are relatively simple compared to those of highly inflected languages.
• Medieval schoolmasters used accidences to teach young scholars the fundamentals of Latin grammar.
• Understanding the accidences of a language helps learners recognize word relationships and meaning.