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The Formation of Inadvertent
It may look innocent, but inadvertent belongs to a class of words that provoke anger in many people who care about language – to wit, the back-formation. Bucking the usual trend in which longer words are formed from shorter ones by the addition of an affix (for example, superficiality from superficial), back-formations are created by clipping off a piece of a longer word; in this case, inadvertent was back-formed from inadvertence or inadvertency. A fair number of these words populate English, including brainwash (from brainwashing), complicit (from complicity), escalate (from escalator), and televise (from television). Certain back-formations, such as liaise (which comes from liaison) rub some people the wrong way. While they are under no obligation to accept liaise, there is nothing inherently wrong with back-formations; they are just another way our language has of creating new words.
Examples of inadvertent in a Sentence
Sarah Horbacewicz, CBS News, 10 June 2026
That’s where the irony of the show’s premise ends up sounding like an inadvertent confession.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 3 June 2026
Additionally, the inadvertent retractor pretensioner deployment, in some cases, can also cause injury to the occupant due to rapid seatbelt retraction.
—Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 3 June 2026
Its inadvertent ability to double up as a whoopee cushion when sat on did not help its case.
—Jack Bantock, CNN Money, 14 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for inadvertent
Cite this Entry
“Inadvertent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inadvertent. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
inadvertent
adjective
