Incidentally

How to spell incidentally

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce incidentally

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does incidentally mean?

1. adverbUsed to introduce a remark that is related but secondary to the main subject; by the way.
2. adverbIn a way that happens as a minor or chance accompaniment to something else.

Incidentally in a sentence

• The report was finished on time, and incidentally it came in under budget.

• The data was gathered incidentally during a routine survey rather than on purpose.

• She mentioned, quite incidentally, that she had once met the author.

• His name came up only incidentally in the course of the investigation.

Where does incidentally come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb cadere, which meant 'to fall'. From it came incidere, 'to fall upon' or 'to happen', formed with the prefix in- meaning 'on' or 'upon', and that verb gave the medieval Latin incidentalis, describing something that simply falls in alongside a main event. English borrowed 'incident' in the late 1400s for an event or occurrence, and the adjective 'incidental' for something secondary or by the way followed soon after. The adverb 'incidentally' was layered on top, first meaning 'in a minor or accidental manner' and later settling into its modern conversational use of introducing a passing remark, roughly 'by the way'. The same falling root cadere lurks inside relatives such as 'accident', 'cadence', and 'coincidence'. The spelling trap is the unstressed middle, since the cid syllable and the full -ent-al-ly tail are easy to clip in writing.

How the word is built

• in- (on, upon)
• cid (from cadere: to fall)
• -ent (adjectival)
• -al (adjective)
• -ly (adverb)