accidentally
Americanadverb
-
by chance or mistake; in a way that is not planned or intended.
If you break your key, whether accidentally or on purpose, there is a $40 charge to replace it.
-
in a nonessential or subsidiary way; incidentally.
Philosophy is essentially a vocation, and only accidentally a profession.
Usage
Spelling tips for accidentally The word accidentally is hard to spell because it can be hard to remember which letters are doubled and which are not. To add to the confusion, there are two possible spellings of accidentally. While less common, accidently is also an acceptable spelling of the word.How to spell accidentally: It's no accident that many animals have two eyes to see (C) And two ears to Listen (L). This reminds you that the letters c and l are doubled in accidentally, with an a in between.
Other Word Forms
- nonaccidentally adverb
- preaccidentally adverb
- pseudoaccidentally adverb
- quasi-accidentally adverb
- unaccidentally adverb
Etymology
Origin of accidentally
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Anthropic recently accidentally released part of its internal source code for Claude Code due to "human error".
From BBC
Anthropic is racing to contain the fallout after accidentally exposing the underlying instructions it uses to direct Claude Code, the popular artificial-intelligence agent app that has won the company an edge with developers and businesses.
Anthropic accidentally released part of the internal source code for its AI-powered coding assistant Claude Code due to "human error," the company said Tuesday.
From Barron's
The original golden touch belonged to King Midas, who loved it until he accidentally killed his daughter by turning her into a gold statue.
From Los Angeles Times
A supermarket in Orkney has given away about 38,000 bananas - almost double the entire population of the islands - in just three days after accidentally ordering them.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
