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

Someone could leave out important details, exaggerate or accidentally confuse you without meaning to. —Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 11 May 2026

Duarte doesn’t need to point a gun at the incumbent — metaphorically, accidentally or literally — to make a case for her candidacy. —Robin Epley, Sacbee.com, 11 May 2026

The key is to make sure they are diluted as well so your blinds are not accidentally damaged. —Ashlyn Needham, Southern Living, 10 May 2026

Madrid was also without Valverde, who hurt his head in the altercation with Tchouaméni after allegedly accidentally knocking his head on a table. —ABC News, 10 May 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