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
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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.