DISCREETLY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does discreetly mean? 

• DISCREETLY (adverb)
  The adverb DISCREETLY has 1 sense:

1. with discretion; prudently and with wise self-restraint

  Familiarity information: DISCREETLY used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISCREETLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

With discretion; prudently and with wise self-restraint

Context example:

I sent for the sergeant of the platoon both men were in and asked him to try to find out discreetly what lay behind this

Antonym:

indiscreetly (without discretion or wisdom or self-restraint)

Pertainym:

discreet (marked by prudence or modesty and wise self-restraint)

 Context examples 

All men are mad in some way or the other; and inasmuch as you deal discreetly with your madmen, so deal with God's madmen, too—the rest of the world.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I stowed them all discreetly away in my overcoat and drove straight to the address given.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Upon my word! you answer as discreetly as she could do herself.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

He paused discreetly at a distance when Brooke disappeared, but he could both see and hear, and being a bachelor, enjoyed the prospect mightily.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A deal of people, Miss, are for trusting all to Providence; but I say Providence will not dispense with the means, though He often blesses them when they are used discreetly.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

On the origin of life itself he was discreetly vague.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Above all things, I desire to settle the matter quietly and discreetly.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But the manner of the speech, no less than the matter, was so fiery, that Miss Murdstone, without a word in answer, discreetly put her arm through her brother's, and walked haughtily out of the cottage; my aunt remaining in the window looking after them; prepared, I have no doubt, in case of the donkey's reappearance, to carry her threat into instant execution.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"Shall I go away?" asked Jo discreetly.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"Come," I said sternly, "no more of this; we have had quite enough already. Get to your bed and try to behave more discreetly."

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)