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

Her therapist – who Heming Willis accidentally referred to her as her own caregiver – explained how normal these feelings were. —David Oliver, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2025

Take the quiz here … CELEBRITY CURVEBALL – Morgan Wallen accidentally hits baseball legend's wife with bat during concert entrance. —FOXNews.com, 10 Sep. 2025

The blind pigeon, named Kevin, accidentally got into the truck bed of a customer whose pickup had been inspected at the business earlier in the day. —Fousia Abdullahi, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 Sep. 2025

The dirtbag who accidentally became a billionaire and then gave it all away reminds us that some paradoxes are meant to be lived with, not solved. —Kyle Westaway, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 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