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

Michael Mann was hospitalized on Saturday after accidentally shooting himself at a gun range in Los Angeles, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. — Carly Thomas, HollywoodReporter, 1 Nov. 2026

Heat director Michael Mann was briefly hospitalized Saturday after accidentally shooting himself in the leg at a Los Angeles gun range. — Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 1 Nov. 2026

On Saturday, at a gun range, a weapon accidentally discharged while holstered resulting in a superficial injury to film director Michael Mann. — Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 1 Nov. 2026

In this one, Denise (Padilla) is out to dinner and determined to maintain her chill reputation after the server (Mikey Day) accidentally drops a bunch of plates on her head. — Rima Parikh, Vulture, 1 Nov. 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