accidentally

adverb

ac·​ci·​dent·​al·​ly ˌak-sə-ˈdent-lē  -ˈden-tᵊl-ē 

: in an accidental or unintended manner : by accident

I accidentally deleted the file.

The lock prevents the gate from opening accidentally.

Six lionfish were accidentally released from a home aquarium in Biscayne Bay, Fla., during Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

—Alcestis Cooky Oberg

The Olympic test was thrown out after the test lab accidentally destroyed the backup sample … that's required to confirm a positive result.

—Christie Aschwanden

He bumped into her accidentally on purpose. [=he bumped into her intentionally but he tried to make it appear to be an accident]

Examples of accidentally in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There are luxury resorts that strive to feel like homes, and then there are homes that accidentally become luxury resorts. —Arion McNicoll, TheWeek, 15 June 2026

Detectives in Baltimore County have launched an investigation after two juveniles got hold of a firearm, which ended in one of them accidentally shooting the other. —Cbs Baltimore Staff, CBS News, 14 June 2026

No doubt a few seeds have accidentally slipped into your stomach over the years, without ill effects. —Jill Schildhouse, Southern Living, 13 June 2026

In a split second, Lou (Malcolm May) shoves the would-be shooter, whose gun accidentally goes off, but the bullets go in a different direction. —Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 12 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for accidentally

• detrimentally
• fundamentally
• governmentally
• incidentally
• incrementally
• instrumentally
• sentimentally
• temperamentally
• coincidentally
• environmentally
• experimentally
• mentally