- accidentally
-
He discovered penicillin largely accidentally.
b) Unintentionally.He accidentally exposed the bacteria to mold spores.
Wikipedia foundation.
accidentally
Look at other dictionaries:
accidentally — (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
Accidentally — 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
accidentally — [adj] by chance by mistake, fortuitously, haphazardly, unintentionally, unwittingly; concepts 548,552 … New thesaurus
accidentally — 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
accidentally — 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
accidentally */ — 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
accidentally — See accidentally, accidently … Dictionary of problem words and expressions
accidentally — adv. Accidentally is used with these verbs: ↑bomb, ↑brush, ↑bump, ↑delete, ↑destroy, ↑discharge, ↑discover, ↑drop, ↑erase, ↑explode, ↑fire, ↑hit, ↑ … Collocations dictionary
accidentally — /æksəˈdɛntli/ (say aksuh dentlee) adverb 1. by chance; unexpectedly. –phrase 2. accidentally on purpose, (humorous) seemingly by accident but with a hidden purpose …
accidentally — accidental ► ADJECTIVE 1) happening by accident. 2) incidental; subsidiary. ► NOUN Music ▪ a sign indicating a momentary departure from the key signature by raising or lowering a note. DERIVATIVES accidentally adverb … English terms dictionary