Synonyms

secretly

American

[see-krit-lee] / ˈsi krɪt li /

adverb

in a way that is kept from the knowledge of others or is designed to escape their notice.

He later discovered that the couple had secretly married in a discreet ceremony six months ago.
Many of the wood and stone looks you see in homes every day are secretly vinyl flooring.

Other Word Forms

nonsecretly adverb
quasi-secretly adverb
semisecretly adverb
ultrasecretly adverb
unsecretly adverb

Etymology

Origin of secretly

secret ( def. ) + -ly

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.

First Minister John Swinney says reports of a staff member secretly recording an SNP MSP they worked for are "completely and utterly unacceptable".

From BBC

In secretly recorded calls, Chu and other Tricolor executives tried to conceal the problems at Tricolor and even turned to artificial intelligence, seeking to blame the banks, according to the indictment.

From MarketWatch

I hadn’t even wanted to put up a tree this Christmas, but when my husband and I went away on a weekend trip, my daughter secretly installed a four-foot one in our small two-bedroom rental.

From Los Angeles Times

They would later suggest their father would message them on a phone he had secretly given them, again urging them to continue backing his version of events.

From BBC

The first chapters of his work-in-progress shock, frighten and anger his wife, Wendy, when she secretly reads them: “Thom was writing some version of their own story. . . . And their story wasn’t for books.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023