secretly

English

Etymology

From secret +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈsiː.kɹɪt.li/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • (weak vowel merger) IPA(key): /ˈsiː.kɹət.li/

Adverb

secretly (not comparable)

  1. In secret, covertly.
    Mary cheated secretly in the test, and never got caught.
    • 1988 October 2, James Atlas, “DABBLING IN LOVE - NOT THE NICE KIND”, in The New York Times[1]:
      Sometimes her prose hyperventilates ("Once, years ago, his and N.'s love for each other had glowed like phosphorescent fire on the surfaces of their bodies"), and she has a weakness for epiphanies ("There was a man, no longer young, though not yet old, who, traveling alone in northern Europe, began to feel that his soul was being drained slowly, almost secretly from him, drop by drop").

Translations