incidentally

[in-si-den-tl-ee, -dent-lee]

adverb

1. apart or aside from the main subject of attention, discussion, etc.; by the way; parenthetically.

   Incidentally, while you were waiting for the officer to run your registration through the system, did you notice if the post office was open?

2. in the course of something else, and not intentionally.

   The bone fractures were discovered only incidentally, during an unrelated CT scan of her chest.

incidentally

/ ˌɪnsɪˈdɛntəlɪ /

adverb

1. as a subordinate or chance occurrence

2. (sentence modifier) by the way

Word History and Origins

Origin of incidentally¹

First recorded in 1655–65; incidental + -ly

Example Sentences

A place that attracted 27,000 this week just for a workout, incidentally.

From Los Angeles Times

Berko said he believed some water might have incidentally splashed on the women as Cruz turned around to tell them to stop recording, but denied intentional wrongdoing.

From Los Angeles Times

The corporation, incidentally, said "these continuing attacks on BBC journalism are completely groundless – it is simply false to say that we give any political party any less scrutiny than any other".

From BBC

The book, incidentally, is affixed with a unique and fitting page marker.

From Los Angeles Times

On the other hand, “Stick” stays more than usually focused — there are no subplots — which gives the dialogue room to breathe; we learn things incidentally rather than by having them presented as bullet points.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• casually 
• remotely