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

To prevent accidentally sharing sensitive prompts and ensure your future prompts stay private: On a phone: (iPhone or Android) Open the Meta AI app on your iPhone. —Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 1 July 2025

One of the guests accidentally calls him Pope Pius. —Belinda Luscombe, Time, 1 July 2025

Waterproof duffel bags offer a great line of defense against rainy and muddy conditions, and can keep your things protected should they accidentally get splashed during a ferry ride or get caught in a sudden downpour. —Jasmine Gomez, Travel + Leisure, 30 June 2025

Bayern Munich’s first goal came on a mistake by Flamengo’s defense when Erick Pulgar accidentally headed a corner kick by Joshua Kimmich into his own goal in the sixth minute. —Andre Fernandez, Miami Herald, 29 June 2025

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