discretely
- adverb
- /dɪsˈkriːtli/
- Each time any student in the class displayed a target behavior, the teacher discretely placed a tally mark under that behavior.
- discretely placed
Examples
-
The third is his signature, but it is easy to miss, discretely placed at the lower right.
Academic text (1990) -
Tucked discretely away in the small village of Banon is one of the largest libraries in France.
Blog text (30) -
I'll pass it around, very discretely, of course, given the circumstances.
Fiction book (2000) -
I know, sir, and I was gonna escort him off the premises, but I thought you might want to handle it a little more discretely.
-
One way of approaching women, for example, is first to discretely circle the gathering.
Academic text (2000) -
The teacher was, however, responsible for discretely placing the item in the envelope before the intervention began each day.
Academic text (2014) -
There are a few firms out there that can take care of Wikipedia problems discretely.
Blog text (4) -
The two groups may exert influence in opposition to each other, and thus must be examined discretely, rather than indiscriminately.
Academic text (2015) -
But hand-wringing aside, caregiving has yet to be placed clearly and discretely on the political agenda of the United States.
Academic text (1990) -
The teacher discretely placed the exam papers in the students' desks before the test began.
Synonyms
Not together because of distance, time or different homes
Each person does it alone rather than together
Happening one at a time and not with others
One at a time rather than in a group
Antonyms
How Separate
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Discretely comes from the prefix dis- meaning 'apart' and the root discrete meaning 'separate'. So, to do something discretely is to do it 'in separate parts' or 'individually' rather than all at once.