accidentally/by accident in a way that was not planned or intended:
He accidentally shot his friend. Fleming discovered the drug by accident, when he was researching something else. I met the man purely by accident, and we began a conversation.by mistake if you do something by mistake, you intend to do one thing, but you accidentally do something else instead:
Michelle must have picked up my keys by mistake. Gary wandered into the wrong hotel room by mistake.be an accident if you say that something was an accident, you mean that you are sorry it happened, but it was not done deliberately:
Marris told the police the killing was an accident. Don’t blame yourself – it was an accident.unintentionally if you do something unintentionally, especially something bad, you do it even though you do not intend to do it:
Teachers often unintentionally favour certain students. Several scenes in the movie are unintentionally funny.inadvertently if you inadvertently do something, you do it without realizing you are doing it, because you are not careful enough:
In a panic, I inadvertently pushed the accelerator instead of the brake. The Finance Minister inadvertently revealed budget secrets to reporters. [TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲