accidentally

  • 1accidentally — (adv.) late 14c., non essentially, also unnaturally, from ACCIDENTAL (Cf. accidental) + LY (Cf. ly) (2). Meaning unintentionally is recorded from 1580s; phrase accidentally on purpose is recorded from 1862 …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 2Accidentally — Ac ci*den tal*ly, adv. In an accidental manner; unexpectedly; by chance; unintentionally; casually; fortuitously; not essentially. [1913 Webster] …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 3accidentally — [adj] by chance by mistake, fortuitously, haphazardly, unintentionally, unwittingly; concepts 548,552 …

    New thesaurus

  • 4accidentally — ac|ci|den|tal|ly [ ,æksı dentli ] adverb * by chance, as the result of an accident: Police believe the fire was started accidentally. A woman was accidentally killed during the shootout. a. by mistake instead of deliberate intention: The program… …

    Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • 5accidentally — adverb 1 without intending to: I accidentally locked myself out of the house. 2 accidentally on purpose humorous used to say that someone did something deliberately although they pretend they did not: I think John lost his homework accidentally… …

    Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • 6accidentally */ — UK [ˌæksɪˈdent(ə)lɪ] / US adverb 1) by chance, as the result of an accident Police believe the fire was started accidentally. A woman was accidentally killed during the shootout. 2) by mistake rather than deliberate intention The program prevents …

    English dictionary

  • 7accidentally — adverb /ˈæk.sə.dənt.li/ a) In an accidental manner; unexpectedly; by chance; casually; fortuitously. He discovered penicillin largely accidentally. b) Unintentionally. He accidentally exposed …

    Wiktionary

  • 8accidentally — See accidentally, accidently …

    Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • 9accidentally — adv. Accidentally is used with these verbs: ↑bomb, ↑brush, ↑bump, ↑delete, ↑destroy, ↑discharge, ↑discover, ↑drop, ↑erase, ↑explode, ↑fire, ↑hit, ↑ …

    Collocations dictionary

  • 10accidentally — /æksəˈdɛntli/ (say aksuh dentlee) adverb 1. by chance; unexpectedly. –phrase 2. accidentally on purpose, (humorous) seemingly by accident but with a hidden purpose …