accident of birth
3
6.9
- noun
:
accidente de nacimiento
- Isn't the contest rigged from the start, based on factors that are arbitrary and derive from accidents of birth?
- just an accident of birth
And in Greenwich, CT, you know, we, we, we take for granted that accidents of birth are going to dictate outcomes.
- And in Greenwich, CT, you know, we, we, we take for granted that accidents of birth are going to dictate outcomes.
- And by an accident of birth, we experience a very, very different life.
- The so-called accident of birth wraps many of us in an unassailable cloak of belonging.
Examples
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Accidents of birth invariably determine human inequalities.
Fiction book (2001) -
The so-called accident of birth wraps many of us in an unassailable cloak of belonging.
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And by an accident of birth, we experience a very, very different life.
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I should have died but for an accident of birth.
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And it's just an accident of birth.
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You think I deserve this treatment for nothing but an accident of birth?"
Fiction book (1999) -
Its subjects are human beings, most of whom fall under it by accident of birth.
Academic text (1991) -
But what is unsaid in all of the court rulings is that Mr. Latif was imprisoned not by evidence of wrongdoing, but by accident of birth.
Blog text (12) -
They were for America's "artificial," not her "natural," aristocrats, to use Jefferson's terms; yet true to Jefferson's intent, they wished to make virtuous and brave those who, through the accident of birth, would someday exercise great power and influence.
Academic text (1996) -
Many people believe that social class is often determined by an accident of birth.
Synonyms
The facts about a person's birth and family background
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'accident' (a chance occurrence) and 'birth' (the fact of being born), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer it refers to circumstances one is born into by chance. This is a compositional, non-idiomatic meaning that parallels similar expressions in other languages, making it transparently derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Accident of birth links accident, meaning something that happens by 'chance', and birth, the time you are born, to paint a picture of being placed by luck into a certain family, class, or country that you did not choose. That's why it means the circumstances of your birth that affect your life.