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

His bleak existence shifts when a fight with a classmate is accidentally streamed online and goes viral. —Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 27 Jan. 2026

To cite one extreme example from the thirteenth century, a four-year-old who accidentally pushed another child into scalding water required a pardon. —Bernadette Meyler, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026

Hostages have also been killed under Israel’s military operations in Gaza, with soldiers accidentally shooting and killing three Israeli hostages in an incident in December 2023. —Chantal Da Silva, NBC news, 26 Jan. 2026

Sweet-treat lover Martin Short accidentally cut into Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco’s wedding cake a little bit too early — like before the bride and groom had a chance to take pictures with it early. —Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 23 Jan. 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