as in accidental
happening by chance
an inadvertent encounter with a rattlesnake in the brush
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of inadvertent
Early in the third quarter Yorba Linda appeared to have lost a fumble, recovered by Terry, but the officials decided that an inadvertent whistle was blown on the play, and by rule that play had to start over.
—
Steve Fryer, Oc Register, 20 Sep. 2025
Yes, absolutely Even if many Newcastle fans may never want to hear the name ‘Alexander Isak’ again, the Sweden international has left an inadvertent financial gift for his former club.
—James McNicholas, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2025
Last Tuesday, Osaka wore a red-and-black Nike outfit in her first-round US Open victory, a color choice that created an inadvertent homage to Serena Williams’ 2018 French Open catsuit.
—Christine Michel Carter, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2025
An inadvertent release of nerve gas in March 1968 killed 6,000 sheep and harmed an untold number of people.
—Matthew Carey, Deadline, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inadvertent
Steve Fryer, Oc Register, 20 Sep. 2025
Yes, absolutely Even if many Newcastle fans may never want to hear the name ‘Alexander Isak’ again, the Sweden international has left an inadvertent financial gift for his former club.
—James McNicholas, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2025
Last Tuesday, Osaka wore a red-and-black Nike outfit in her first-round US Open victory, a color choice that created an inadvertent homage to Serena Williams’ 2018 French Open catsuit.
—Christine Michel Carter, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2025
An inadvertent release of nerve gas in March 1968 killed 6,000 sheep and harmed an untold number of people.
—Matthew Carey, Deadline, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inadvertent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inadvertent
accidental
Adjective
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Past outages on this scale have been caused by a wide variety of errors, including faulty updates, the accidental injection of bad code, or a change to third-party software that doesn’t play nicely with a service.—
Alexandra Banner,
CNN Money,
21 Oct. 2025
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In the caption of her Instagram post, King revealed that the accidental encounter went better than some might think.—
Liza Esquibias,
PEOPLE,
21 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Inadvertent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inadvertent. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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