adscititious, adj.

Forming an addition or supplement; not integral.

1620    Bacon Instauratio Magna ii. xlviii. 542   They therefore called this [motion] perpetual and proper‥and they called the others adscititious.

1628    W. Prynne Unlovelinesse of Love-lockes 17   It is a very wicked thing, to attire the head, with dead and ascititious Haire.

1783    W. F. Martyn Geogr. Mag. II. 517   The adscititious inhabitants of Terra Firma.

1864    F. Max Müller Lect. Sci. Lang. (1868) 2nd Ser. vi. 261   These initial vowels‥are not radical, but merely adscititious in Greek.

1879    Contemp. Rev. 27 608   In taking on the onus of a ‘religion’, it has burdened itself with a whole cargo of ascititious and alien ideas.

1920    Times 1 Nov. 8   The [wood] fibres are adscititious and can be absorbed; but the [silica] grit they hold is indivisible.

2008    W. D. King Coll. of Nothing i. 32   Crates of chilly hardware—coffee tins of rusty nails and mismatched bolts and nuts‥and adscititious crap.

Etymology:  < post-classical Latin adsciticius , asciticius adopted (15th cent.), adventitious (from c1546 in British sources; < classical Latin adscīt- , past participial stem of adscīscere (also ascīscere ) to admit, to adopt ( < ad- ad- prefix + scīscere to get to know, to ascertain: see sciscitation n.) + -īcius : see -itious suffix1) + -ous suffix.