surreptitiously


Also found in: Thesaurus, Legal.

sur·rep·ti·tious

 (sûr′əp-tĭsh′əs)
adj.
Obtained, done, or made by clandestine or stealthy means. See Synonyms at secret.

[Middle English, from Latin surreptīcius, from surreptus, past participle of surripere, to take away secretly : sub-, secretly; see sub- + rapere, to seize; see rep- in Indo-European roots.]

sur′rep·ti′tious·ly adv.
sur′rep·ti′tious·ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adv.1.surreptitiously - in a surreptitious manner; "he was watching her surreptitiously as she waited in the hotel lobby"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

surreptitiously

[ˌsʌrəpˈtɪʃəslɪ] ADV [glance, signal] → subrepticiamente
he was surreptitiously stuffing himself with chocolatese estaba atiborrando de chocolate a escondidas
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

surreptitiously

[ˌsʌrəpˈtɪʃəsli] advsubrepticement
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

surreptitiously

advheimlich
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

surreptitiously

[ˌsʌrəpˈtɪʃəslɪ] advfurtivamente
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
Lansing remarked to him with a smile which seemed to confess surreptitiously, and as if neither party could be eager, to recognition.
I say nothing of the possible danger if a Woman should ever surreptitiously learn to read and convey to her Sex the result of her perusal of a single popular volume; nor of the possibility that the indiscretion or disobedience of some infant Male might reveal to a Mother the secrets of the logical dialect.
He must carry four hundred pounds about with him till Monday, when the neglect could be surreptitiously repaired; and meanwhile, he was free to pass the afternoon on the encircling divan of the billiard-room, smoking his pipe, sipping a pint of ale, and enjoying to the masthead the modest pleasures of admiration.
Carey looked at Philip surreptitiously now and then, but the Vicar elaborately ignored him.
"I hope your Aunt Olivia won't disappear before the ceremony," remarked Sara Ray, who was surreptitiously reading "The Vanquished Bride," by Valeria H.
The couple seated themselves on the opposite side, and intently but surreptitiously scrutinized her clothes.
Tom, smoking his pipe and cuddling his youngest-born on his knees, dropped an eyelid surreptitiously on his cheek in token that Sarah was in a tantrum.
If the fire wanted stirring in the night, it was surreptitiously done lest his rest should be broken.
My only hope seemed to lie in entering the city surreptitiously under cover of the darkness, and once in, trust to my own wits to hide myself in some crowded quarter where detection would be less liable to occur.
Presently, as he sat there, the sudden feeling came over him that eyes were watching from behind, and the old instinct of the wild beast broke through the thin veneer of civilization, so that Tarzan wheeled about so quickly that the eyes of the young woman who had been surreptitiously regarding him had not even time to drop before the gray eyes of the ape-man shot an inquiring look straight into them.
He had to eat as he had never eaten before, to handle strange tools, to glance surreptitiously about and learn how to accomplish each new thing, to receive the flood of impressions that was pouring in upon him and being mentally annotated and classified; to be conscious of a yearning for her that perturbed him in the form of a dull, aching restlessness; to feel the prod of desire to win to the walk in life whereon she trod, and to have his mind ever and again straying off in speculation and vague plans of how to reach to her.
The fact is, the old lady believed Rebecca to be the meekest creature in the world, so admirably, on the occasions when her father brought her to Chiswick, used Rebecca to perform the part of the ingenue; and only a year before the arrangement by which Rebecca had been admitted into her house, and when Rebecca was sixteen years old, Miss Pinkerton majestically, and with a little speech, made her a present of a doll--which was, by the way, the confiscated property of Miss Swindle, discovered surreptitiously nursing it in school- hours.

Full browser ?