stealthy
Americanadjective
-
stealthier,
comparative
-
stealthiest
superlative
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of stealthy
Explanation
Use the adjective stealthy to describe something or someone that is marked by secrecy, even sneakiness. Ninjas are stealthy, moving quietly and cautiously, which makes them excellent spies. When something is done in a stealthy way, the motivation is almost always to escape from being noticed. If your cat is walking so lightly that you can’t hear her footsteps, she's not necessarily being stealthy on purpose, she’s just a graceful cat. However, if you see your cat creeping forward toward a mouse, trying not to scare it away before she can pounce, then she's definitely being stealthy.
Vocabulary lists containing stealthy
List 1
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"The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs
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"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
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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.
See Examples For:
The team is now investigating other possibilities, including the development of "stealthy" hepatocytes that could escape immune detection.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
Alas, like the Titanic, it is apparently not as tricked out or as stealthy as advertised.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
TOKYO—Among the more eye-catching products in Tokyo’s new defense shopfront: a sleek and stealthy warship that can hunt submarines, deploy underwater drones and operate with a lean crew.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
It could engender pride and joy at your stealthy maneuvers, indifference, resentment or using the friendship as collateral for a loan.
From MarketWatch ● May 26, 2026
At first Kira felt secretive and stealthy, as if she should make her footsteps as silent as possible, difficult with her stick and her dragging leg.
From "Gathering Blue" by Lois Lowry
Iran has a clear geopolitical motive and a history of targeting the water sector, and the fact that the attacks were readily detected makes a stealthier adversary like China less likely, Kaiser said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
Rather than chase him, authorities came up with another — stealthier — plan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
A stealthier and less obvious plan would be financial repression, in which interest rates are held down below the rate of nominal growth of the economy, which consists of real growth plus inflation.
From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026
His off-kilter demeanor looks especially dangerous in scenes he shares with Strong or May, whose Empress is stealthier than the strutting warrior she showcased in “The Witcher.”
From Salon ● Nov. 17, 2024
“Your father’s a very practical man. No, we need something stealthier than a pool.”
From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon
“The marriage of sensibilities in front of and behind the camera is the stealthiest meeting in ‘Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros,’ and the most unexpectedly satisfying.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2026
The concept with the Columbias is to not only architect something that will be upgraded to accommodate new nuclear missiles as they emerge, but also to construct the stealthiest submarine ever to exist.
From Fox News ● Nov. 11, 2020
Throughout his career, Murnane, Australia’s stealthiest Nobel candidate, has drawn parallels to J.M.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 28, 2018
With bone structure that resembles a blend of Ms. Didion’s and Vivien Leigh’s in her later years, Ms. Anderman gives a lovely performance that goes straight for the emotional jugular in the iciest, stealthiest way.
From New York Times ● Jun. 22, 2012
Just one of Gebu’s heavy footfalls—even at his stealthiest they were audible—and the whole household would be shouting the alarm.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
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.
