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

While your expressive nature loves the spotlight, group work is currently the ideal way to showcase your skills without accidentally bragging. —Tarot.com, New York Daily News, 8 Apr. 2026

The vlogger Jordan Cheyenne, for one, wrecked her sharenting career by accidentally posting footage of herself coaching her son, who was distraught over the family’s sick puppy, to make a specific kind of sad face for YouTube. —Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2026

Investigators say Horner accidentally struck the child with his delivery truck while backing out of the driveway. —Amelia Mugavero, CBS News, 7 Apr. 2026

Sean Lawlor, another investigator working on the Sun project, responded — accidentally including Moore’s team on the reply. —Max Tani, semafor.com, 6 Apr. 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