Meaning & use
freak accident
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
An accident that happens in a very strange, unexpected way that would be almost impossible to predict.
Grammar: Countable: a freak accident; often used in news stories about injuries.
Patterns
- die in a freak accident
- a freak accident involving something
He broke his arm in a freak accident when a branch fell on the car.
The school said it was a freak accident, and nobody could have prevented it.
A freak accident at the harbor left two boats damaged.
Word forms
| plural | freak accidents |
|---|
Common combinations
- die in a freak accident
- The pilot died in a freak accident on a quiet day.
- a tragic freak accident
- A tragic freak accident ended the match.
- blame on a freak accident
- The company blamed the fire on a freak accident.
- suffer a freak accident
- She suffered a freak accident while walking her dog.
- a bizarre freak accident
- A bizarre freak accident closed the road for hours.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fluke
- A fluke is a lucky or unlikely event, often good, while a freak accident is always a harmful event.
- mishap
- A mishap is a minor mistake or accident, while a freak accident is unusual in how it happened and may be serious.
- accident
- Accident is the general word and does not say the cause was strange or unlikely.
- misfortune
- Misfortune means bad luck in general and need not involve a specific event.
Opposites
Word family
- freak adjective
- very unusual or unexpected
- accident noun
- an unplanned harmful event
- accidental adjective
- happening by chance
- accidentally adverb
- by chance, not on purpose
Commonly confused: freak accident or fluke?
freak accident vs fluke
A fluke is a chance event that can be lucky, while a freak accident is always unfortunate.
Practice
Police said the damage was caused by a ___ when a falling tree hit a power line during a calm night.
Choose one answer.
A very unlikely, strange harmful event is a freak accident. A planned event or routine check would not be unexpected.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “freak accident”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.