unintentionalun‧in‧ten‧tion‧al /ˌʌnɪnˈtenʃənəl◂/ adjective 
Examples
I know she upset you, but I’m sure it was unintentional.—unintentionally adverb
ExamplesEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- Defense attorneys claimed the shooting was unintentional.
- Gingrich said his violations were unintentional and that he regretted them.
- Gingrich said the violations were unintentional.
- Her presence in the completed project adds an unintentional poignance now.
- Some of these things are done to us deliberately while others are the unintentional actions of others or unavoidable events.
- The fact that discrimination is unintentional has no bearing on its legality or otherwise.
- The largely unintentional effect was that small local entrepreneurs had their confidence in the development prospects boosted by this creative strategy.
- Would the Pickering decision always protect teachers who make unintentional false public statements?
Longman Language Activatorwhen you do something without intending to do it► accidentally/by accident
Word family · I accidentally burnt a hole in her sofa with my cigarette.· An 11-month-old baby died after accidentally swallowing several of the tablets.· Fleming discovered the drug by accident, when he was researching something else.completely by accidentalso quite by accident British · I met the man quite by accident, and we began a conversation.
► accidental happening without being planned or intended: · She touched his elbow so timidly that he thought it must have been accidental.· an accidental discharge of toxic wastepurely accidental (=completely accidental): · They believe that miscalculations made on the tax forms were purely accidental.
► 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.· I opened this by mistake, Paula, but I think it's for you - sorry.· Gary wandered into the wrong hotel room by mistake.
► mistakenly if you mistakenly do something, you intend to do one thing, but you accidentally do something else instead, especially because you are confused: · The crew had mistakenly shut down the engine, and the plane went out of control.· A handful of people die each year from mistakenly eating poisonous fungi.
► not mean to do something especially spoken to do something accidentally - use this especially when expressing the idea that you are sorry for something that you have done, or when you think you are being unfairly blamed for something: · I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.· I'm sure he didn't mean to yell at you - he was just angry.· Sorry folks, I don't mean to interrupt your dinner.· If we've offended you in some way, we didn't mean to.
► 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 favor certain students.· The advertisement unintentionally offended Scottish people.· Several scenes in the movie are unintentionally funny.
► unintended/unintentional use this about something you do without intending to, especially something that annoys, upsets, or causes problems for someone else: · The senator apologised, saying any offense his remarks had caused had been completely unintentional.· One originally unintended consequence of the discussions was the setting up of an official inquiry into the department's funding.
WORD FAMILYadjectiveintended ≠ unintendedintentional ≠ unintentionalintentnounintentintentionverbintendadverbintentionally ≠ unintentionally
not done deliberately OPP deliberate: I know she upset you, but I’m sure it was unintentional.—unintentionally adverb