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accident of birth. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
accident of birth, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Pronunciation
Noun
accident of birth (plural accidents of birth)
- (idiomatic) A fact, situation, or personal characteristic, which may be desirable or undesirable, resulting from the circumstances into which a person was born, and which is therefore entirely beyond their control.
1899, Charles W. Chesnutt, “Uncle Wellington's Wives”, in The Wife of his Youth and Other Stories:[H]e said to himself that he was a very good-looking man, and could have adorned a much higher sphere in life than that in which the accident of birth had placed him.
1910, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 4, in A Texas Ranger:"You're no brother of mine," she broke in. "At most it is an accident of birth I disown. I'll have no relationship with you of any sort."
1915, Rex Ellingwood Beach, chapter 9, in Heart of the Sunset:An accident of birth had made him a citizen of the United States—his father having owned a ranch which lay north instead of south of the Rio Grande.
Translations
situation or characteristic resulting from birth