noun · neutral
accident
/ˈæksɪdənt/AC·ci·dent
Band 4-5speakingtask2
An unexpected event that causes injury or damage, often used for road crashes.
Examples
“The motorway was closed for two hours after the accident.”
“He broke his arm in a cycling accident last year.”
“Reporting minor accidents quickly can help prevent bigger problems.”
Band 8 sentence
“The highway was closed for hours after a multi‑vehicle accident that tragically claimed several lives.”
Collocations
- road accident
- fatal accident
- minor accident
- have an accident
Word family
accident nounaccidental adjectiveaccidentally adverb
Common mistakes
He had accident last night.→He had an accident last night.
Many accident happen on this road.→Many accidents happen on this road.
Say it for a higher band
5crash→6incident→7+accident
Synonyms
crash
collision
Easily confused
incident
“The police recorded the incident but no one was injured.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In Transport & Traffic
Learn it with its set