on the sly
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The math-proficiency analysis suggests it may be doing so on the sly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025
Some people were there to raise money on the sly, and given the big money behind WelcomeFest, it wasn’t a bad idea.
From Slate ● Jun. 9, 2025
We were forbidden to speak Urdu, but my mother still taught us on the sly.
From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2024
Show up to volunteer and Ignazio Vivirito, 83, who is always cooking something, might slip you a fresh-baked biscotti or a snack of bread and cheese on the sly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2023
So my plan was to sneak into the Keys on the sly and see what I might do behind the scenes.
From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen
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.
