Whqt are the differences between an accident, an incident, a mishap and a harm?












1















All is in the title. I dont understand the differences between those words. I would say that in increasing value it gives :



Incident < accident < mishap < harm










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  • 3





    Have you looked them up in a dictionary? For a start, it's not 'a harm'. Harm is an uncountable noun meaning injury or damage (physical or otherwise).

    – Kate Bunting
    8 hours ago











  • That s what i was thinking about... It felt wrong to write a harm... Well Yes i looked up in a dictionnary. But this is not really meaningful. I even read an article about maritime harm but none of those information convinced me

    – Marine Galantin
    8 hours ago






  • 1





    @MarineGalantin 'maritime harm'? Are you concerned with legal language here? Can you give the context of what you are writing or reading? Are you writing or reading a particular sentence? Also, there's no guarantee that these all lie on the same continuum; there's no guarantee that if you put them on a continuum of 'severity', that they will all be comparable to each other (two may be about the same point, or vague enough that they're about the same).

    – Mitch
    7 hours ago













  • Also, have you looked at the other synonyms? They might extend the comparison and fit in in different ways. Event, occurrence, trauma, injury, misfortune, disaster, difficulty. Are these in the same area? That would give a getter idea of what exactly you're looking for (in addition to whether you're reading or writing).

    – Mitch
    5 hours ago
















1















All is in the title. I dont understand the differences between those words. I would say that in increasing value it gives :



Incident < accident < mishap < harm










share|improve this question


















  • 3





    Have you looked them up in a dictionary? For a start, it's not 'a harm'. Harm is an uncountable noun meaning injury or damage (physical or otherwise).

    – Kate Bunting
    8 hours ago











  • That s what i was thinking about... It felt wrong to write a harm... Well Yes i looked up in a dictionnary. But this is not really meaningful. I even read an article about maritime harm but none of those information convinced me

    – Marine Galantin
    8 hours ago






  • 1





    @MarineGalantin 'maritime harm'? Are you concerned with legal language here? Can you give the context of what you are writing or reading? Are you writing or reading a particular sentence? Also, there's no guarantee that these all lie on the same continuum; there's no guarantee that if you put them on a continuum of 'severity', that they will all be comparable to each other (two may be about the same point, or vague enough that they're about the same).

    – Mitch
    7 hours ago













  • Also, have you looked at the other synonyms? They might extend the comparison and fit in in different ways. Event, occurrence, trauma, injury, misfortune, disaster, difficulty. Are these in the same area? That would give a getter idea of what exactly you're looking for (in addition to whether you're reading or writing).

    – Mitch
    5 hours ago














1












1








1








All is in the title. I dont understand the differences between those words. I would say that in increasing value it gives :



Incident < accident < mishap < harm










share|improve this question














All is in the title. I dont understand the differences between those words. I would say that in increasing value it gives :



Incident < accident < mishap < harm







word-choice word-usage differences






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




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asked 8 hours ago









Marine GalantinMarine Galantin

1235




1235








  • 3





    Have you looked them up in a dictionary? For a start, it's not 'a harm'. Harm is an uncountable noun meaning injury or damage (physical or otherwise).

    – Kate Bunting
    8 hours ago











  • That s what i was thinking about... It felt wrong to write a harm... Well Yes i looked up in a dictionnary. But this is not really meaningful. I even read an article about maritime harm but none of those information convinced me

    – Marine Galantin
    8 hours ago






  • 1





    @MarineGalantin 'maritime harm'? Are you concerned with legal language here? Can you give the context of what you are writing or reading? Are you writing or reading a particular sentence? Also, there's no guarantee that these all lie on the same continuum; there's no guarantee that if you put them on a continuum of 'severity', that they will all be comparable to each other (two may be about the same point, or vague enough that they're about the same).

    – Mitch
    7 hours ago













  • Also, have you looked at the other synonyms? They might extend the comparison and fit in in different ways. Event, occurrence, trauma, injury, misfortune, disaster, difficulty. Are these in the same area? That would give a getter idea of what exactly you're looking for (in addition to whether you're reading or writing).

    – Mitch
    5 hours ago














  • 3





    Have you looked them up in a dictionary? For a start, it's not 'a harm'. Harm is an uncountable noun meaning injury or damage (physical or otherwise).

    – Kate Bunting
    8 hours ago











  • That s what i was thinking about... It felt wrong to write a harm... Well Yes i looked up in a dictionnary. But this is not really meaningful. I even read an article about maritime harm but none of those information convinced me

    – Marine Galantin
    8 hours ago






  • 1





    @MarineGalantin 'maritime harm'? Are you concerned with legal language here? Can you give the context of what you are writing or reading? Are you writing or reading a particular sentence? Also, there's no guarantee that these all lie on the same continuum; there's no guarantee that if you put them on a continuum of 'severity', that they will all be comparable to each other (two may be about the same point, or vague enough that they're about the same).

    – Mitch
    7 hours ago













  • Also, have you looked at the other synonyms? They might extend the comparison and fit in in different ways. Event, occurrence, trauma, injury, misfortune, disaster, difficulty. Are these in the same area? That would give a getter idea of what exactly you're looking for (in addition to whether you're reading or writing).

    – Mitch
    5 hours ago








3




3





Have you looked them up in a dictionary? For a start, it's not 'a harm'. Harm is an uncountable noun meaning injury or damage (physical or otherwise).

– Kate Bunting
8 hours ago





Have you looked them up in a dictionary? For a start, it's not 'a harm'. Harm is an uncountable noun meaning injury or damage (physical or otherwise).

– Kate Bunting
8 hours ago













That s what i was thinking about... It felt wrong to write a harm... Well Yes i looked up in a dictionnary. But this is not really meaningful. I even read an article about maritime harm but none of those information convinced me

– Marine Galantin
8 hours ago





That s what i was thinking about... It felt wrong to write a harm... Well Yes i looked up in a dictionnary. But this is not really meaningful. I even read an article about maritime harm but none of those information convinced me

– Marine Galantin
8 hours ago




1




1





@MarineGalantin 'maritime harm'? Are you concerned with legal language here? Can you give the context of what you are writing or reading? Are you writing or reading a particular sentence? Also, there's no guarantee that these all lie on the same continuum; there's no guarantee that if you put them on a continuum of 'severity', that they will all be comparable to each other (two may be about the same point, or vague enough that they're about the same).

– Mitch
7 hours ago







@MarineGalantin 'maritime harm'? Are you concerned with legal language here? Can you give the context of what you are writing or reading? Are you writing or reading a particular sentence? Also, there's no guarantee that these all lie on the same continuum; there's no guarantee that if you put them on a continuum of 'severity', that they will all be comparable to each other (two may be about the same point, or vague enough that they're about the same).

– Mitch
7 hours ago















Also, have you looked at the other synonyms? They might extend the comparison and fit in in different ways. Event, occurrence, trauma, injury, misfortune, disaster, difficulty. Are these in the same area? That would give a getter idea of what exactly you're looking for (in addition to whether you're reading or writing).

– Mitch
5 hours ago





Also, have you looked at the other synonyms? They might extend the comparison and fit in in different ways. Event, occurrence, trauma, injury, misfortune, disaster, difficulty. Are these in the same area? That would give a getter idea of what exactly you're looking for (in addition to whether you're reading or writing).

– Mitch
5 hours ago










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Incident = Something bad happened. UK police nowadays uses "incident" instead of "accident" to signify that the event should have been avoided. Like crashing your car while driving drunk or speeding would be called an "incident", not an "accident".



Accident = Something bad happened because someone didn't watch out, no intention.



Mishap = Similar to accident, but usually with more harmless consequences or no harm at all. "He stumbled and almost fell" - a mishap, but without any harm at all.



Harm = Damage happened. This may be completely intentional, and even positive. Like the police's strong presence in the streets harmed the drug dealers' business. So "harm" doesn't fall into any order relative to the other three terms.






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    1 Answer
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    0














    Incident = Something bad happened. UK police nowadays uses "incident" instead of "accident" to signify that the event should have been avoided. Like crashing your car while driving drunk or speeding would be called an "incident", not an "accident".



    Accident = Something bad happened because someone didn't watch out, no intention.



    Mishap = Similar to accident, but usually with more harmless consequences or no harm at all. "He stumbled and almost fell" - a mishap, but without any harm at all.



    Harm = Damage happened. This may be completely intentional, and even positive. Like the police's strong presence in the streets harmed the drug dealers' business. So "harm" doesn't fall into any order relative to the other three terms.






    share|improve this answer




























      0














      Incident = Something bad happened. UK police nowadays uses "incident" instead of "accident" to signify that the event should have been avoided. Like crashing your car while driving drunk or speeding would be called an "incident", not an "accident".



      Accident = Something bad happened because someone didn't watch out, no intention.



      Mishap = Similar to accident, but usually with more harmless consequences or no harm at all. "He stumbled and almost fell" - a mishap, but without any harm at all.



      Harm = Damage happened. This may be completely intentional, and even positive. Like the police's strong presence in the streets harmed the drug dealers' business. So "harm" doesn't fall into any order relative to the other three terms.






      share|improve this answer


























        0












        0








        0







        Incident = Something bad happened. UK police nowadays uses "incident" instead of "accident" to signify that the event should have been avoided. Like crashing your car while driving drunk or speeding would be called an "incident", not an "accident".



        Accident = Something bad happened because someone didn't watch out, no intention.



        Mishap = Similar to accident, but usually with more harmless consequences or no harm at all. "He stumbled and almost fell" - a mishap, but without any harm at all.



        Harm = Damage happened. This may be completely intentional, and even positive. Like the police's strong presence in the streets harmed the drug dealers' business. So "harm" doesn't fall into any order relative to the other three terms.






        share|improve this answer













        Incident = Something bad happened. UK police nowadays uses "incident" instead of "accident" to signify that the event should have been avoided. Like crashing your car while driving drunk or speeding would be called an "incident", not an "accident".



        Accident = Something bad happened because someone didn't watch out, no intention.



        Mishap = Similar to accident, but usually with more harmless consequences or no harm at all. "He stumbled and almost fell" - a mishap, but without any harm at all.



        Harm = Damage happened. This may be completely intentional, and even positive. Like the police's strong presence in the streets harmed the drug dealers' business. So "harm" doesn't fall into any order relative to the other three terms.







        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered 1 hour ago









        gnasher729gnasher729

        1,518411




        1,518411






























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