unintentionally
Americanadverb
Etymology
Origin of unintentionally
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.
Psychology has a term for when therapists unintentionally project their own emotions, history or unresolved issues onto a client: countertransference.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
But by engaging in the burrito debate, many of them unintentionally exposed the fact that despite their comments on the youth, they have not actually spoken to a young person in years.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026
BH: It was very unintentionally giving “mermaid leaves water.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
The US has not admitted responsibility, though US media have reported that military investigators believe it is likely that US forces carried out the strike unintentionally.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
“Oh, no! Mason will not defy me; nor, knowing it, will he hurt me—but, unintentionally, he might in a moment, by one careless word, deprive me, if not of life, yet for ever of happiness.”
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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.
