secretly
adverb
Simple meaning
Without anyone else knowing or seeing.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
seekrihtleeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsikɹɪtli
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adverb
In secret, covertly.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
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More ways to use secretly
- “Met secretly to discuss the invasion plans.”adverb
- “They were secretly delighted at his embarrassment.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Something that should remain hidden from others (especially information that is not to be passed on).
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A person who is head of an administrative department of government.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A person secretly employed in espionage for a government.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.