SECRETLY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does secretly mean? 

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

1. in secrecy; not openly

2. not openly; inwardly

  Familiarity information: SECRETLY used as an adverb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SECRETLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

In secrecy; not openly

Synonyms:

in secret; on the Q.T.; on the QT; secretly

Context example:

they arranged to meet in secret

Sense 2

Meaning:

Not openly; inwardly

Context example:

hoped secretly she would change her mind

Pertainym:

secret (not expressed)

 Context examples 

What we did we had to do quickly and secretly, since even at this last hour the Indians might hold us back.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The episode was tacitly and secretly intimate.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

And he thought of Oona, and of her words: "And when the fighting begins, it is for thee, Negore, to crawl secretly away so that thou be not slain."

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Mr. Dick secretly shook his head at me, as if he thought there was no getting over this.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

From pain and sheer exhaustion I wept in the darkness, secretly, so that Maud should not know.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

And secretly she added to herself, Lord bless me! when should I ever have thought of putting by in cotton a piece of court-plaister that Frank Churchill had been pulling about!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Very little was said by either; Kitty was too much afraid of him to talk; Elizabeth was secretly forming a desperate resolution; and perhaps he might be doing the same.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

He did not rob openly, but stole secretly and cunningly, out of respect for club and fang.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Even when cells are at the brink of death, they are secretly enriching survival RNAs.

(Cells Back from Brink of Death, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Here Catherine secretly acknowledged the power of love; for, though exceedingly fond of her brother, and partial to all his endowments, she had never in her life thought him handsome.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)