incidentally

adverb in·ci·den·tal·ly \ ˌin(t)-sə-ˈden-tᵊl-ē , especially for sense 2 -ˈdent-lē \

Updated on: 14 Apr 2018

1 : in an incidental manner : not intentionally

the arrant nonsense of some of his statements is incidentally hilarious
—John Lahr

2 : by way of interjection or digression : by the way

fortunate in having a good teacher … —still living, incidentally
—John Fischer

See incidentally defined for English-language learners

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Examples of incidentally in a Sentence

Not incidentally, the market slump was followed by widespread layoffs.
incidentally, have you seen the new building they're putting up?

Recent Examples of incidentally from the Web

That walkout is supported, not so incidentally, by the superintendent of the Tulsa Public Schools.

— valerie strauss, Washington Post, "What Betsy DeVos seems to be missing about the Oklahoma teachers’ strike," 10 Apr. 2018
None of which has much to do, incidentally, with Joe Panik.

— bruce jenkins, San Francisco Chronicle, "Joe Panik hot, Giants not, but it’s too soon to worry about the season," 3 Apr. 2018
Those original trees still grow, incidentally, not far from the World War II Memorial, which marks a chapter in U.S.-Japanese relations that was decidedly less harmonic — in fact, the trees were almost dug up after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

— daniel stone, Time, "How the Man Who Brought the Cherry Blossoms to Washington Narrowly Avoided a Diplomatic Crisis," 20 Mar. 2018
Mar-a-Lago, incidentally, reportedly has three bomb shelters on site.

— chris morris, Fortune, "Why Russia Would Specifically Choose to Threaten Florida With a Nuclear Blast," 1 Mar. 2018
In the series, which, incidentally, was pretty good, Catherine Zeta-Jones played de Havilland.

— matthew gilbert, BostonGlobe.com, "Judge stops Olivia de Havilland’s ‘Feud: Bette and Joan’ suit," 27 Mar. 2018
Which, incidentally, is how the whole Dôen collaboration came about.

— hayley phelan, Vogue, "This L.A. Singer Is the New Poster Child for Lady of the Canyon Cool," 13 Mar. 2018
Both, incidentally, have also seen their share prices double or more from their IPOs levels.

— dan gallagher, WSJ, "Getting the Drop on Big Tech IPOs," 12 Mar. 2018
Not incidentally, that is one of the ways Xi has tightened his grip on power in China.

— chas danner, Daily Intelligencer, "Trump Jokes About Staying In Power Indefinitely," 4 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'incidentally.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of incidentally

1665

in the meaning defined at sense 1

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incidentally Synonyms

Synonyms

apropos;

Phrases

by the by (or by the bye), by the way, in passing;

INCIDENTALLY Defined for English Language Learners

incidentally

adverb

: as something that is less interesting or important
—used to introduce a statement that provides added information or that mentions another subject

INCIDENTALLY Defined for Kids

incidentally

adverb in·ci·den·tal·ly \ ˌin-sə-ˈden-tᵊl-ē \

1 : as a matter of less interest or importance

2 —used to introduce a statement that provides additional information or changes the subject

I'll call your mother. Incidentally, how is she?

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incidentally

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