accidentally

accidentally — adverb

1. doing something without meaning to, usually because of carelessness, a slip of a

1.adverbB1
Definition

doing something without meaning to, usually because of carelessness, a slip of attention, or pure chance.

Example

Maria accidentally deleted the photos of her grandmother from the laptop.

accidentally + past tense verb

The chef accidentally added salt to the cake instead of sugar.

accidentally + past tense verb in main clause

Common collocations
  • accidentally delete
  • accidentally drop
  • accidentally break
  • accidentally hit
  • accidentally meet
  • accidentally discover
  • be accidentally left
  • be accidentally sent
Synonyms
  • unintentionally

    more formal; stresses the lack of intention rather than chance

  • by mistake

    phrase, very common in speech; emphasises an error

  • by chance

    covers the 'unplanned meeting / discovery' meaning, not the 'made an error' meaning

  • inadvertently

    formal, often in writing or news; suggests carelessness

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

accidentally + past tense verb

accidentally + past participle (passive)

Usage Note

Almost always placed directly before the main verb, or between auxiliary and past participle in passive form. Rarely used at the very end of a clause.

Common Mistakes

I broke the cup accidentally last night and not on purpose.
I accidentally broke the cup last night.
natural English puts 'accidentally' before the verb, not at the end.
She accidentally on purpose forgot the keys.
She forgot the keys on purpose.
'accidentally' and 'on purpose' have opposite meanings; don't mix them in one phrase.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adverb/1

All four describe actions done without intent, but they differ in register and focus. 'Accidentally' is the everyday, neutral choice and works in both speech and writing — it covers both errors ('I accidentally pressed the wrong button') and lucky chance ('we accidentally met at the airport'). 'Unintentionally' is slightly more formal and only stresses the lack of intent, never random chance: 'I unintentionally hurt his feelings.' 'Inadvertently' is the most formal and often appears in news or legal writing, hinting at carelessness: 'the email was inadvertently sent to the wrong list.' 'By mistake' is the most informal phrase and almost always points to an error rather than coincidence: 'I took your bag by mistake.' Use 'accidentally' as the safe default; switch to the others for register or precision.

accidentally ↗unintentionallyinadvertently ↗by mistake ↗

Common collocations

Phrases

  • accidentally on purpose (informal, ironic)
  • purely accidentally
  • quite accidentally

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishModern English

Built from the adjective 'accidental' plus the adverb suffix '-ly'. 'Accidental' came into English in the late 1300s through Old French 'accidental', which was based on Latin 'accidens' — the present participle of 'accidere', meaning 'to fall upon, to happen to'. The Latin verb itself joins 'ad-' ('to, toward') with 'cadere' ('to fall'). So at its root the word pictures something that simply 'falls upon' a person without being planned — which still matches how we use 'accidentally' today.