incidentally
Americanadverb
-
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?
-
in the course of something else, and not intentionally.
The bone fractures were discovered only incidentally, during an unrelated CT scan of her chest.
adverb
-
as a subordinate or chance occurrence
-
(sentence modifier) by the way
Etymology
Origin of incidentally
First recorded in 1655–65; incidental + -ly
Explanation
Incidentally is a word you use when you've got more to say on a topic or want to transition into a new subject. Think of the word incidentally as a more formal way to say "by the way." Incidentally can also mean "by chance" if you want to remark on a coincidence. Sometimes, things just happen by chance, like you and your friend showing up at the same place incidentally. Incidentally, the word ends in lly so don't forget to throw that extra l in there!
Vocabulary lists containing incidentally
The Outsiders
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
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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.
“Could a cruise member have been cleaning up an area and incidentally aerosolized some rodent droppings?” said Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional physician chief of infectious diseases at Kaiser Permanente Southern California.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2026
And, incidentally, I'm told Lord Mandelson himself wasn't aware too.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026
The private-sector unionization rate in the U.S. is still less than 6%, which incidentally is about the percentage of Starbucks stores now unionized.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026
Colorado argued that its statute does not meaningfully implicate the First Amendment because it regulates conduct and only incidentally burdens speech.
From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2026
Its first prelude is now very well known - and incidentally made up entirely of a chord sequence, no melody, exactly as Bach’s hero Vivaldi might have done.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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.
