Definition of "incidental" []

• Occurring or likely to occur as an unpredictable or minor accompaniment: the snags incidental to a changeover in upper management. See Synonyms at accidental. (adjective)
• Of a minor, casual, or subordinate nature: incidental expenses. (adjective)
• A minor accompanying item or expense: a pocket in the suitcase for incidentals. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, whose proposal to cut Wisconsin's spending would have what he characterizes as the incidental effect of stripping state workers of their bargaining rights, had this to say: Although my only goal is to put Wisconsin back on its fiscal feet, I can't help but note that if we'd had a fence around the state three weeks ago, you wouldn't see state employees out in front of my office today marching around and carrying signs."
• "As I wrote Down and Delirious in Mexico City I practiced what might be called incidental research."
• "Ibsen had never intended Peer Gynt to be staged, but in 1874 when his ‘dramatic poem’ was going into its third printing he decided to adapt it as a play, and it was to Grieg that his thoughts turned when the idea of incidental music first surfaced in his mind."