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Synonyms

covertly

American  
[koh-vert-lee, koh-vert-] / ˈkoʊ vərt li, koʊˈvərt- /

adverb

  1. in a way that is concealed or disguised; secretly.

    The witness alleges that the FBI asked him to covertly record conversations with his boss in a bid to tie him to a criminal hacking conspiracy.

Etymology

Origin of covertly

covert ( 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.

Especially for Jay, whose subplot concerns his desire for a musical career apart from this partnership, and includes him covertly planning to perform at an open-mic event in far-off Ottawa.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 12, 2026

When the two appear in court on Wednesday, police will allege they worked with a Chinese national charged last August for covertly gathering information on the Guan Yin Citta Buddhist group in Australia's capital, Canberra.

From Barron's • Feb. 11, 2026

I speak, of course, of the, uh, rising Winter Olympic panic that male ski jumpers, hoping to improve aerodynamics and, um, lengthen their jumps, may be covertly:

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 7, 2026

Our team went undercover in the city, filming men as they covertly recorded women on a night out, exposing some of the most prolific operators, linked to 12 accounts.

From BBC • Feb. 2, 2026

Chronicler watched him covertly, finding it hard to believe that this man humming to himself and cutting sausage could be the same person who had stood behind the bar just minutes ago, dark-eyed and terrible.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

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

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.