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

The warheads could have been struck accidentally by drones or missiles—or deliberately attacked or stolen. —William M. Moon, Foreign Affairs, 5 Nov. 2024

Campaign spokeswoman Jenna Kaufman responded in a statement that a campaign staffer who posted the photo accidentally uploaded a second picture. —Scott Wartman, The Enquirer, 5 Nov. 2024

Myth: Double voting is widespread across Wisconsin elections In late September, 2,000 voters were accidentally sent duplicate ballots out of Madison, though a city spokesperson told the Associated Press multiple safeguards were in place to ensure that only one ballot would be counted. —Alex Groth, Journal Sentinel, 5 Nov. 2024

On Monday's episode of the Fox first responder drama, EMT Nancy (Brianna Baker) gets tested for breast cancer after her boss, Tommy (Gina Torres), notices a lump in a nude photo Nancy accidentally sent to the whole firehouse. —Patrick Gomez, EW.com, 5 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above