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

The conflict potential is heightened for you, particularly that which finds you on the road, so take extra care to not accidentally offend the locals with behavior that wouldn’t necessarily be considered rude back home. — Steph Koyfman, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Sep. 2026

Cody’s script follows Roxanne, an obsessive high school senior who goes to her ex-boyfriend’s college campus to win him back, only to wage war on his new girlfriend and accidentally find the first person who truly understands her. — Matt Grobar, Deadline, 28 Sep. 2026

And, in true Minion fashion, chaos ensues when the yellow creatures accidentally release monsters out into the world. — Tanya Fedak, Variety, 28 Sep. 2026

Patt then accidentally reveals Aaliyah as the other possible target (loose lips on that girl). — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 24 Sep. 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