incidentally

adverb

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

 especially for sense 2  -ˈdent-lē

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

Synonyms

• in passing
• by the way
• by the bye
• 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

The Lululemon slides are cool and comfortable, which, incidentally, also happen to be my only two goals this summer. —Chaunie Brusie, Parents, 9 July 2025

The Iconic Brands Corporation was specifically established to handle the Ellesse license by chairman Furniss, a former tennis player and incidentally the first American athlete to scoop up a contract with the Italian brand in 1978 and who now runs private equity firm gTC Group. —Martino Carrera, Footwear News, 9 July 2025

That’s the Medical College Admission Test, incidentally. —David Lyman, The Enquirer, 2 July 2025

This would, incidentally, make an excellent theme for a documentary. —Stewart Clarke, Deadline, 28 May 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