mistakenly

[mi-stey-kuhn-lee]

adverb

1. unintentionally or inadvertently; by mistake.

   I may have mistakenly interchanged them without realizing it.

2. in a way that is wrongly conceived, held, or done; incorrectly.

   Many people mistakenly believe their PhD will help them land a stable, middle-class job even if they can't get an academic job.

Word History and Origins

Origin of mistakenly¹

mistaken ( def. ) + -ly

Example Sentences

Those mistakenly kicked off could use a government ID or provide a video selfie to verify their age, the company said.

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The Bush administration mistakenly thought Iraq’s WMDs would justify the decision to invade.

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Perhaps it had been lost in a comical mix-up involving two identical sheaves of paper, in which Penelope’s notes were mistakenly swapped for, say, a collection of soup recipes.

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He also hit the headlines when he was mistakenly released from prison the same day, only to eventually hand himself back in after a short manhunt.

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In a brief submitted to the Commerce Department on Nov. 4, La Molisana argued that the department’s calculations mistakenly treated the pasta company’s net prices, excluding tax, as gross prices.

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Related Words

• erroneously 
• falsely www.thesaurus.com