accidently

English

Etymology

From Middle English accidently, accidentli (“by chance; temporarily; artificially”), equivalent to accident +‎ -ly.

Adverb

accidently (comparative more accidently, superlative most accidently)

1. (now nonstandard) Accidentally; by chance, unintentionally. [from 15th c.]
   • 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC:

     [T]he exceptions remind me of an ingenious conjecture respecting Newton: that he was probably a being of a superior order, accidently caged in a human body.

   • 1899, Knut Hamsun, “Part I”, in George Egerton [pseudonym; Mary Chavelita Dunne Bright], transl., Hunger […], London: Leonard Smithers and Co […], →OCLC, page 15:

     As I arrived at the foot of the hill I overtook two ladies, whom I passed. As I did so, I brushed one of them accidently on the arm.

   • 1980, Phillip James Edwin Peebles, The Large-Scale Structure of the Universe (Astrophysics), Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 151:

     [W]hich arises from four galaxies at four quite different distances that accidently appear close together in the sky. The second line represents two galaxies close together in space and the other two accidently close in projection, the third line close triplets plus a fourth accidently close in projection, the fourth line two close pairs accidently seen close together in projection.

   • 2011, Robert W. Shumaker, Kristina R. Walkup, Benjamin B. Beck, Gordon M. Burghardt, Animal Tool Behavior, 2nd edition, JHU Press, →ISBN, page 92:

     [R]elayed similar cases but suspected that the rocks were accidently dislodged as the animals fled. […] Hall (1963) considered the same data and concluded that while such behavior might originate accidently during flight or display, […]

   • 2012, Patrick R. Delaney PhD, CPA, O. Ray Whittington, Wiley CPA Exam Review 2012, Regulations, page 334:

     Juan accidently spills some coffee on a client during a business meeting. Juan's tort is clearly in the scope of employment.

Usage notes

In modern usage, usually considered a misspelling.

Translations

unexpectedly, unintentionally — see accidentally

Middle English

Alternative forms

• accidentlych, accidentli

Etymology

From accident +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /akˈsidɛntliː/, /akˈsidɛntlit͡ʃ(ə)/

Adverb

accidently

1. by chance, by accident

   Thinges that happen accidentlych. — Cato, 1475

2. temporarily

   He that hath goode vertues is substancially a noble man, and he that hath hem accydently maketh himself noble and is nat. — The Dicts and Sayings of the Philosophers, 1460

3. not naturally, artificially

   It is made naturaly of defecte of materie or accidently of yuel sewing & consoldyng of þe palpebrez. — Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie, 1425

Descendants

• English: accidently

References

• “accidentlī, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.