incidentally

adverb

in·​ci·​den·​tal·​ly ˌin(t)-sə-ˈden-tᵊl-ē How to pronounce incidentally (audio)
 especially for sense 2  -ˈdent-lē
1
: in an incidental manner : not intentionally
the arrant nonsense of some of his statements is incidentally hilariousJohn Lahr
2
: by way of interjection or digression : by the way
fortunate in having a good teacher … —still living, incidentallyJohn Fischer

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
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That also eliminates the possibility that people who came in for health care (for shingles or some other condition) were more likely to incidentally receive a dementia diagnosis. John Timmer, ArsTechnica, 3 Apr. 2025 Siragusa’s success is the inevitable outcome, some would imply, of what happens when beauty is weaponized to a legion of hopeful young men with disposable income who, incidentally, aren’t aware that the object of their affection is already married. Patricia Hernandez, Rolling Stone, 24 Mar. 2025 That’s incidentally the last name that Meghan and Harry recorded on the birth certificates for their children Archie and Lilibet, English reported. Martha Ross, The Mercury News, 7 Mar. 2025 Putting aside the many risks, there are clearly vast profits to be made in doing business with Russia, which incidentally also has the world’s fourth biggest reserves of rare earths, far bigger than Ukraine’s. Matthew Chance, CNN, 2 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for incidentally

Word History

First Known Use

1665, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of incidentally was in 1665

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Cite this Entry

“Incidentally.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incidentally. Accessed 7 Apr. 2025.

Kids Definition

incidentally

adverb
in·​ci·​den·​tal·​ly ˌin(t)-sə-ˈdent-ᵊl-ē How to pronounce incidentally (audio)
 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

More from Merriam-Webster on incidentally

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