adventitious

• adventicious (archaic)

From Latin adventīcius (“foreign”), from adveniō (“arrive”).

• IPA^(key): /ˌæd.vənˈtɪʃ.əs/, /ˌæd.vɛnˈtɪʃ.əs/
• (Northern California)

  (file)

adventitious (comparative more adventitious, superlative most adventitious)

1. From an external source; not innate or inherent, foreign.

   Synonyms: extrinsic, exogenous

2. Accidental, additional, appearing casually.

   Synonyms: accidental, spontaneous, sporadic; see also Thesaurus:accidental

   • 1895, Alfred C. Haddon, Evolution in Art, pages 101–102:

     The discovery of the art of making pottery was probably in all cases adventitious, the clay being first used for some other purpose.

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 30:

     The adventitious disappearance of those nearer the throne than the duke had, moreover, set tongues awagging.

3. (genetics, medicine) Not congenital; acquired.

   Synonym: acquired

4. (biology) Developing in an unusual place or from an unusual source.

   Coordinate term: ectopic

   • 1985, R. M. T. Dahlgren, H. T. Clifford, P. F. Yeo, The Families of the Monocotyledons, page 101:

     The Velloziaceae have evolved a woody stem which is covered with a layer of adventitious roots mingled with the fibres of the old leaf sheaths;