mistakenly

M3I1S1T1A1K5E1N1L1Y4
/mɪˈsteɪ.kən.li/

adverb

Wrongly; erroneously.

“Today I mistakenly took your packed lunch to work.”

Similar
erroneously
Less commonScrabble 19
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Meanings

adverbmistakenly (not comparable)
  1. not comparableWrongly; erroneously.

    I mistakenly assumed that the shop was still there.

    2 more examples

    Most Americans mistakenly believe that they must see specialists for almost every medical problem.

    2017 June 3, Jamie Koufman, “The Specialists’ Stranglehold on Medicine”, in The New York Times

    The Supreme Court on Monday temporarily paused a lower court-ordered deadline to return to the US a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador, granting the Trump administration additional time to review the case.

    2025 April 8, Hanna Park, “A timeline of the legal battle over the mistaken deportation of a Maryland father to El Salvador”, in CNN
  2. not comparableBy accident; by mistake; in error (without intention to do so).

    Today I mistakenly took your packed lunch to work.

Synonyms & antonyms

adverbin a mistaken or erroneous manner

Similar
erroneously
Also see
by mistakeerroneouslywrongly

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

From mistaken + -ly.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic خَطَأً
  • خَطَأً (ḵaṭaʔan)by accident
Chinese Mandarin 錯誤地 /错误地
  • 錯誤地 /错误地 (cuòwù de)by accident
Esperanto erare
  • erarewrongly
Finnish virheellisesti, vahingossa
  • virheellisestiwrongly
  • vahingossaby accident
  • erehdyksessäby accident
French à tort, par erreur
  • à tortwrongly
  • par erreurby accident
  • à tortby accident
  • sans faire exprèsby accident
German irrtümlich, aus Versehen
  • irrtümlichwrongly
  • aus Versehenby accident
  • versehentlichby accident
Greek εσφαλμένα, λανθασμένα
  • εσφαλμένα (esfalména)wrongly
  • λανθασμένα (lanthasména)wrongly
  • κατά λάθος (katá láthos)by accident
Hungarian tévesen, tévedésből
  • tévesenwrongly
  • tévedésbőlby accident
Italian erroneamente
  • erroneamenteby accident
Japanese 誤って
  • 誤って (ayamatte)by accident
Polish błędnie, przez pomyłkę
  • błędniewrongly
  • przez pomyłkęby accident
Portuguese erradamente, equivocadamente
  • erradamenteby accident
  • equivocadamenteby accident
  • erroneamenteby accident
Russian оши́бочно, по оши́бке
  • оши́бочно (ošíbočno)by accident
  • по оши́бке (po ošíbke)by accident
Spanish equivocadamente, erróneamente
  • equivocadamenteby accident
  • erróneamenteby accident
  • erradamenteby accident
  • sin quererby accident
  • por errorby accident
  • por equivocaciónby accident
Tamil தவறாக, தப்பாக
  • தவறாக (tavaṟāka)wrongly
  • தப்பாக (tappāka)wrongly
  • தவறாக (tavaṟāka)by accident
  • தவறுதலாக (tavaṟutalāka)by accident
Turkish yanlışlıkla
  • yanlışlıklaby accident
Urdu غلطی سے
  • غلطی سے (ġalatī sē)by accident
Cite this entry
APA

mistakenly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mistakenly

MLA

“mistakenly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mistakenly. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mistakenly,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mistakenly.

Source: mistakenly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.