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SECRETLY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not openly; inwardly
Example:
hoped secretly she would change her mind
Classified under:
Pertainym:
secret (not expressed)
Sense 2
Meaning:
In secrecy; not openly
Example:
they arranged to meet in secret
Synonyms:
in secret; on the Q.T.; on the QT; secretly
Classified under:
Context examples:
Ned Moffat had just married Sallie Gardiner, and Meg couldn't help contrasting their fine house and carriage, many gifts, and splendid outfit with her own, and secretly wishing she could have the same.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
To cast in my lot with Jekyll, was to die to those appetites which I had long secretly indulged and had of late begun to pamper.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
But he was as cunning as he was cruel, and at the first whisper of coming trouble he had secretly conveyed his treasures aboard a ship which was manned by devoted adherents.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He revolved a thousand plans by which he should be enabled to prolong the deceit until it might be no longer necessary, and secretly to take his daughter with him when he departed.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
They were developing in him, and the camp-life, replete with misery as it was, was secretly endearing itself to him all the time.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
The other party might be putting you off while secretly filing for bankruptcy, and if you are not a secured creditor, you may fear you won’t receive all that is due you.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
So he dressed himself as a poor man, and came secretly to the king’s court, and was scarcely within the doors when the horse began to eat, and the bird to sing, and the princess left off weeping.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Her mother too, in whose mind not one speculative thought of their marriage had been raised, by his prospect of riches, was led before the end of a week to hope and expect it; and secretly to congratulate herself on having gained two such sons-in-law as Edward and Willoughby.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
I took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would enable us to buy the neighbouring fields.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It seems that William had secretly followed his two masters on the night when they made their raid upon Mr. Acton’s, and having thus got them into his power, proceeded, under threats of exposure, to levy blackmail upon them.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
