accidentally

adverb

ac·​ci·​dent·​al·​ly ˌak-sə-ˈdent-lē  -ˈden-tᵊl-ē 

: in an accidental or unintended manner : by accident

I accidentally deleted the file.

The lock prevents the gate from opening accidentally.

Six lionfish were accidentally released from a home aquarium in Biscayne Bay, Fla., during Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

—Alcestis Cooky Oberg

The Olympic test was thrown out after the test lab accidentally destroyed the backup sample … that's required to confirm a positive result.

—Christie Aschwanden

He bumped into her accidentally on purpose. [=he bumped into her intentionally but he tried to make it appear to be an accident]

Examples of accidentally in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Day, police said, may have implicated himself and Thomas by accidentally recording themselves while transporting the victim’s body. — Corky Siemaszko, NBC news, 5 Oct. 2026

Maybe the suite number was 654, but someone accidentally entered 645. — Paulo Socatelli, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026

In the Mexican drama series Inside the Circle, four lifelong friends accidentally uncover a video that links a powerful government official to the unsolved death of an actress. — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 2 Oct. 2026

But Luna’s department has come under scrutiny in the wake of a July 2025 incident in which a grenade exploded accidentally in a department parking lot, killing three deputies. — Connor Sheets, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for accidentally

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