incidentally

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English

Etymology

From incidental +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

Adverb

incidentally (comparative more incidentally, superlative most incidentally)

  1. (manner) In an incidental manner; not of central or critical importance.
    The book discussed the subject, but only incidentally.
    • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
      Nor, will the tragic dramatist who would depict mortal indomitableness in its fullest sweep and direct swing, ever forget a hint, incidentally so important in his art, as the one now alluded to.
    • 1951 April, D. S. Barrie, “British Railways: A Survey, 1948-1950”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 225:
      Not everybody welcomes standardisation as a principle, because it reduces variety (and, incidentally, tends to dispose of the quainter and more picturesque anomalies).
  2. By chance; in an unplanned way.
  3. (speech act, conjunctive) Parenthetically, by the way.
    Incidentally, did you hear anything new from your brother yesterday?

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