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

Yehudi Mercado is behind the graphic novel about a family vacation gone awry, when fun Uncle Freddy accidentally kills the Boogeyman and takes on his powers, and must go on a quest to break the curse. —Mia Galuppo, HollywoodReporter, 22 June 2026

The story follows a family vacation that turns into a nightmare after fun Uncle Freddy accidentally kills the Boogeyman and takes on his powers. —Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 22 June 2026

Many histories of invasive species concern the life-forms that have been intentionally or accidentally introduced from Europe. —Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 22 June 2026

The assumption is that Lohar will either abandon pursuit or accidentally run the Bitchfist aground on the toothy shoals. —Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 22 June 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