accidentally
adverb
Simple meaning
Without intention; in an unintentional manner.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
aksuhdehntuhleeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
æksəˈdɛntəli
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adverb
In an accidental manner; by chance, unexpectedly.
Unintentionally.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: In an accidental manner; by chance, unexpectedly.
'Accidentally' is a very common adverb indicating something occurred without intention or planning. It implies a random event or a mistake, making it different from doing something 'on purpose.' It often functions as an excuse.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Slightly formal
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Fortunate or pleasantly unexpected
- Usage feel
- Reflective and slightly elevated
Where you'll really hear it
Everyday apologies
“Oops, I accidentally spilled my coffee on the report.”
Storytelling
“She accidentally found an old photo album in the attic.”
Workplace discussions
“Someone accidentally deleted the file from the shared drive.”
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use accidentally
- “They met accidentally.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A musical notation that makes a note sharp or flat or natural although that is not part of the key signature.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.