inadvertent
Americanadjective
-
unintentional.
an inadvertent insult.
-
not attentive; heedless.
- Synonyms:
- inattentive
-
of, relating to, or characterized by lack of attention.
- Synonyms:
- negligent, careless, thoughtless
adjective
-
failing to act carefully or considerately; inattentive
-
resulting from heedless action; unintentional
Other Word Forms
- inadvertently adverb
Etymology
Origin of inadvertent
First recorded in 1645–55; abstracted from inadvertence, inadvertency
Explanation
When something happens by accident, it's inadvertent, or unintentional. The gas company assured you that the error in your bill was inadvertent and that they would fix it, but not before you blew off some steam. If you break down the adjective inadvertent you find the word vert, from the Latin vertere, meaning "to turn." Advertent comes to mean "turning the mind to," and as the prefix in- means "not," inadvertent means “not turning the mind to,” or "not intending to." When your actions are inadvertent you're not paying attention to their consequences. Remember that inadvertent ends with -ent by remembering this sentence: “We inadvertently ripped the tent.”
Vocabulary lists containing inadvertent
Things Fall Apart
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This Week in Words: April 20–26, 2019
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Commonly Misspelled Words, List 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Ministerial Code states that ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament are expected to resign, while any inadvertent error should be corrected "at the earliest opportunity".
From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026
Wrangling Gellar free from her inadvertent nostalgic trappings is no simple task.
From Salon • Mar. 26, 2026
Commissioner Rasha Gerges Shields said it lacked guardrails against the inadvertent deletion of pertinent records.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 29, 2026
Her lawyers say any misstatement in her mortgage papers was, at worst, an inadvertent paperwork error.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 21, 2026
Could there be something special about our location in the universe, as if the Milky Way had performed some inadvertent but offensive act in the social life of galaxies?
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
