Accessorily

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a way that contributes supplementary information without being vital to the main idea
2. By providing added details that enhance understanding but are not required
3. In a manner that offers extra information that supports but does not dominate the main content

Etymology: "Accessorily" is a plain formation: the adjective "accessory" with the adverbial suffix "-ly" attached. "Accessory" comes from the Latin "accessorius," meaning additional or contributory, and in English it has long meant something added to a main thing, whether a supporting part of a crime or a decorative extra on an outfit. Adding "-ly" turns that idea of "as an addition" into an adverb describing how something is done or included. The suffix has a long ancestry of its own. It descends from an Old English "-līċe," itself rooted in the Germanic word for "body" or "form," so that "-ly" once literally meant "in the shape of" the thing named. Over centuries that sense faded into the simple marker of manner we use now, which is why "accessorily" can describe something merely included alongside the main content rather than essential to it.

Synonyms: incidentally, secondarily