DECENTLY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does decently mean? 

• DECENTLY (adverb)
  The adverb DECENTLY has 2 senses:

1. in a decent manner

2. in the right manner; correctly; suitably

  Familiarity information: DECENTLY used as an adverb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DECENTLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

In a decent manner

Context example:

they don't know how to dress decently

Antonym:

indecently (in an indecent manner)

Pertainym:

decent (socially or conventionally correct; refined or virtuous)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In the right manner; correctly; suitably

Synonyms:

decent; decently; properly; right

Context example:

can't you carry me decent?

 Context examples 

And I believe my brother was speaking on the subject when we—not very decently—interrupted him.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Elinor answered in some distress that she was, and then talked of head-aches, low spirits, and over fatigues; and of every thing to which she could decently attribute her sister's behaviour.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I was glad to give her a sufficient sum to set her up in a good line of business, and so get decently rid of her.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She had thought he had got over his youthful wildness, that her love for him had been sufficiently worth while to enable him to live seriously and decently.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He had only been waiting till the aforesaid blighted affections were decently interred.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

If we had a quick voyage it would be no to our miscredit wi' the owners, or no hurt to our traffic; an' the Old Mon who had served his ain purpose wad be decently grateful to us for no hinderin' him.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

All this time he was squeezing my hand with his damp fishy fingers, while I made every effort I decently could to get it away.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I shall devote myself for a time to the examination of the Roman Catholic dogmas, and to a careful study of the workings of their system: if I find it to be, as I half suspect it is, the one best calculated to ensure the doing of all things decently and in order, I shall embrace the tenets of Rome and probably take the veil.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He went out of the room calling "Ewing!" and returned in a few minutes accompanied by an embarrassed, slightly worn young man with shell-rimmed glasses and scanty blonde hair. He was now decently clothed in a "sport shirt" open at the neck, sneakers and duck trousers of a nebulous hue.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)