incidentally
/ˌɪnsəˈdɛn(t)l̩i/adverb
incidentally is spelled I-N-C-I-D-E-N-T-A-L-L-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is incidently: about 60 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 11 of all searches for the word. Incidentally is an adverb meaning “By happenstance; in a particular case which has little to no bearing on, and little to no causal relation to…”.
How many letters and syllables are in incidentally?
| Letters | 12: I-N-C-I-D-E-N-T-A-L-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.2 times per million words; the 14,731st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, incidently, about 60 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell incidentally?
Incidentally is spelled I-N-C-I-D-E-N-T-A-L-L-Y. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for incidentally in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is incidentally?
Incidentally appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,731st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce incidentally?
- UK /ˌɪnsɪˈdɛntl̩i/
- US /ˌɪnsəˈdɛn(t)l̩i/
Incidentally has 5 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-incidentally.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of incidentally
- more incidentally comparative
- most incidentally superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does incidentally mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
By happenstance; in a particular case which has little to no bearing on, and little to no causal relation to, any other case.
Near-synonyms: coincidentally, happenstantially, circumstantially, by chance, accidentally, semirandomly, randomly
- 2
Not of central or critical importance.
Near-synonym: in passing
- 3
Parenthetically, by the way.
Incidentally, did you hear anything new from your brother yesterday?
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Incidentally in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | incidemment |
| German | nebenbei , zufällig, zufälligerweise , apropos, übrigens, im Übrigen |
| Portuguese | incidentalmente , acidentalmente, por acaso , a propósito, aliás |
| Spanish | incidentalmente , casualmente , por cierto, a propósito |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does incidentally come from?
From incidental + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).