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

They are often caught accidentally in deep-sea fisheries, and their slow reproductive rate makes population recovery difficult. —Samantha Agate, Miami Herald, 31 Mar. 2026

They are frequently caught accidentally in deep-sea fisheries, and their slow reproductive rate makes population recovery difficult. —Samantha Agate, Charlotte Observer, 31 Mar. 2026

Left Shark’s dancing may have accidentally revealed a prophecy. —Andrey Mir, Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026

Who knows if, in this upside-down world that currently weighs on her, the june bug can see the nearby corpse of another beetle, accidentally disemboweled by the home’s owner hours before, the white fat peeking out from her rear end like the materialization of her dying breath. —María Ospina, The Dial, 31 Mar. 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