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

There’s no greater bond than women who accidentally killed their evil boss together. — Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 25 Aug. 2026

Anne Arundel County fire officials said on Monday that the homeowner was working on the home's HVAC system when a propane line was accidentally cut. — Caroline Foreback, CBS News, 24 Aug. 2026

Instead, with an inadvertent point of his right index finger, Espada accidentally removed him from the game. — Chandler Rome, New York Times, 23 Aug. 2026

Rinsing hair before and immediately after swimming, and even wearing a swim cap to protect light hair from oxidation, can be your best defense against accidentally going green. — Jessie Quinn, StyleCaster, 22 Aug. 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