on the sly

English

Pronunciation

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Adverb

on the sly

1. (idiomatic) Slyly, in an inconspicuous manner, so as not to be seen; secretly; stealthily.

   Synonyms: clandestinely, furtively, on the down-low, on the quiet, on the Q.T.

   • 1857, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 16, in The Virginians:

     This diversion was enjoyed on the sly, and unknown to the ladies of the house.

   • 1984 December 15, John Kyper, “Remembering David Stryker”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 22, page 5:

     He was working for us on the sly at the Herald-Traveler-Record-American (before it shortened its topheavy name), then as now a reactionary, homophobic rag. Evidently he placed himself at some risk to help us, I learned later, because he was threatened with dismissal for his unauthorized use of the typesetter.

Translations

slyly, in an inconspicuous manner, so as not to be seen; secretly; stealthily

• Azerbaijani: əlaltından, əlaltı
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 偷偷 (zh) (tōutōu), 悄悄 (zh) (qiāoqiāo)

• Dutch: in het geheim
• Finnish: vaivihkaa (fi), salaa (fi)
• French: en douce (fr), à la dérobée (fr), en cachette (fr), à la sauvette (fr)
• Galician: ás agachadas
• German: heimlich (de)
• Hungarian: titokban (hu), lopva (hu), alattomban (hu), suttyomban (hu)
• Polish: ukradkiem (pl)
• Russian: втихаря́ (ru) (vtixarjá), исподтишка́ (ru) (ispodtišká), тайко́м (ru) (tajkóm), укра́дкой (ru) (ukrádkoj), потихо́ньку (ru) (potixónʹku), тихо́нько (ru) (tixónʹko)
• Spanish: de extranjis
• Swedish: i smyg (sv)

Anagrams

• honestly