What is the difference between Accident and Incident?

These two terms, accidents and incidents, are often used by the media. Accidents and incidents are actually thought to be used interchangeably by so many people due to the fact that they really sound alike. They both have the same ending; both words end with a -dent. Both terms can actually also be used to depict and describe an event that happened in the past, happening in the present, or would happen in the future event.

Regardless of what actually happened in an event, an event can always be termed as an incident. While on the other hand, the term accident cannot be used in describing events in general. The accident has a very negative connotation, and it points to an unintended or chance event. Accidents are basically bad events that were not planned for. They happened by chance. All accidents can also be called incidents, but not all incidents can be called accidents.