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

But the program will need strong safeguards to ensure that a corporation does not accidentally start a war. — Jill Goldenziel, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2026

The sirens were accidentally activated by DuPage Public Safety Communications. — Elyssa Kaufman, CBS News, 18 Aug. 2026

Flustered, Kayley accidentally tells Joy that Judah and Bunny want all avocado and no watermelon on their limp crispy rice, so Judah sends her plate back again. — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 18 Aug. 2026

People who accidentally chew on glass may also cut their mouth. — Julia Gomez, USA Today, 18 Aug. 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