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

This strategy also helps employers get to know phenomenal candidates whose applications are going to accidentally be rejected by the ATS and AI systems. — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2026

Scott Schaunaman, a Kansas City, Kansas, Fire Department spokesperson, said the contractor accidentally bored into a six-inch, high-pressure gas line from 150 feet away, blowing open a portion of 10th Street. — Ben Wheeler, Kansas City Star, 14 Sep. 2026

Authorities concluded that Haught had died accidentally while playing Russian roulette with a revolver, but that finding was later questioned. — Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2026

During a joint practice that year with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Campbell accidentally took down running back JaMycal Hasty in a non-padded practice. — Colton Pouncy, New York Times, 11 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