incidentally

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

|Updated on: 8 Jun 2018

Examples: incidentally in a Sentence

Definition of incidentally

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

See incidentally defined for kids

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 discrepancy, incidentally, is precisely why the National Center for Health Statistics collects this data.

— philip bump, courant.com, "Most Adults Live In Wireless-Only Households But Variations Are Important," 1 June 2018
It was given its debut by the Ballets Russes in 1912; incidentally, the dancers included Vaslav Nijinsky.

— mike giuliano, Howard County Times, "Columbia Orchestra turns to France for 40th season finale," 18 May 2018
Bycatch refers to the animals fishers catch incidentally while fishing for a different species.

— sarah gibbens, National Geographic, "What's Killing the West Coast's Young Great White Sharks?," 9 May 2018
The Penguins, incidentally, lost in the second round.

— helene elliott, latimes.com, "Vegas’ latest show-stopper puts the Golden Knights one win away from a berth in Stanley Cup Final," 19 May 2018
For Jarvis, who, incidentally, never married or had children, Mother’s Day wasn’t meant to celebrate all mother figures.

— nneka mcguire, chicagotribune.com, "What about the women who are like mothers? Let's rethink the punctuation in Mother's Day," 11 May 2018
All that mint, incidentally, is true Kentucky mint; it’s been sourced from the same vendor, Dohn and Dohn Gardens, for more than 30 years.

— carey jones, Vogue, "The Many Mint Juleps of the Kentucky Derby," 5 May 2018
Security researchers often find flaws and weaknesses in organizations' networks incidentally, or through proactive probing.

— lily hay newman, WIRED, "A Georgia Hacking Bill Gets Cybersecurity All Wrong," 5 May 2018
By contrast, Contreras eschewed such flashiness for a more workmanlike approach — a reflection, incidentally, of San Antonio itself, a working-class town.

— brian chasnoff, San Antonio Express-News, "Tricentennial redeemed," 30 Apr. 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.