inadvertently
unintentionally or by accident
Roots
- ad- / a-: to, toward, added onto, or intensified
- im- / in- (not): not or without
- vers / vert / verg: turn, bend, or incline
Other words with the vers / vert / verg root
- adverse: unfavorable or opposed
- advertise: to call attention to something
- aversion: strong dislike or turning away
- avert: to turn away or prevent
- converge: to come together toward one point
- diverge: to move apart from a shared point
- divergent: moving or developing in different directions
- divert: to turn aside or redirect
Inadvertently means by not noticing: attention failed to turn toward the thing before it happened.
He inadvertently sent the practice answers to the whole class instead of his study group.
Advertise makes the old turn-attention image familiar: turn attention toward something. Inadvertently adds in- as not. The action happened because attention did not turn there in time.