incidentally

adverb

in·​ci·​den·​tal·​ly ˌin(t)-sə-ˈden-tᵊl-ē 

especially for sense 2 -ˈdent-lē

1

a

: in an incidental manner : not intentionally

… the arrant nonsense of some of his statements is incidentally hilarious.

—John Lahr

b

: as something that is less important

mentions the issue only incidentally

2

: by way of interjection or digression : by the way

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

—John Fischer

Synonyms of incidentally

• in passing
• by the way
• by the by

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 on the Web

And, not incidentally, the ability to browse them easily. —Glenn Zorpette, IEEE Spectrum, 4 Nov. 2025

Which, incidentally, both physicians practice. —Melanie Radzicki McManus, CNN Money, 17 Oct. 2025

Pigozzi, incidentally, owns one of the top collections of contemporary African art in the world. —Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 14 Oct. 2025

The lifestyle push incidentally coincided with the launch of the brand’s seminal fashion collection, for which Vespa recruited an experienced team of designers. —Martino Carrera, Footwear News, 27 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1665, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for incidentally

• accidentally
• detrimentally
• fundamentally
• governmentally
• incrementally
• instrumentally
• sentimentally
• temperamentally
• coincidentally
• environmentally
• experimentally
• mentally

Kids Definition

incidentally

adverb

in·​ci·​den·​tal·​ly ˌin(t)-sə-ˈdent-ᵊl-ē 

especially for sense 2 -ˈdent-lē

1

: in an incidental manner

discusses the problem only incidentally

2

: apart from that : by the way

a one-room school—still standing, incidentally—which was painted red