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

As the defender swung his leg at the ball, Yamal nipped in ahead of him and was accidentally kicked by Digne. — Aleks Klosok, CNN Money, 14 July 2026

Around the seven-minute mark of the second quarter, Nelson came flying in for a block but accidentally landed on Washington (12 points, six rebounds), who was trying to take a charge on a layup attempt from Portland’s Quincy Olivari. — Jason Beede, The Orlando Sentinel, 13 July 2026

My rock bottom hit, perhaps not accidentally, just a few weeks before it was published. — Literary Hub, 13 July 2026

The Little Elm Police Department is investigating after officers said a teen accidentally shot a friend early Sunday morning. — Matthew Ablon, CBS News, 12 July 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