Standard Lemma guide

furtively

adv · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈfɜːtɪvli/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: F ER1 T IH0 V L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

In a furtive manner.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adverb

Meaning 2

in a furtive manner

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the soldiers were furtively crawling through the night

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: on the sly

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English furtyvely; equivalent to furtive + -ly.

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Azerbaijani: oğrun — in a furtive manner
  • Azerbaijani: gizlin — in a furtive manner
  • Catalan: furtivament — in a furtive manner
  • Chinese Mandarin: 偷偷 (tōutōu) — in a furtive manner
  • Czech: kradmo — in a furtive manner
  • Czech: skrytě — in a furtive manner
  • Czech: nenápadně — in a furtive manner
  • Esperanto: ŝtele — in a furtive manner
  • Finnish: vaivihkaa — in a furtive manner
  • Finnish: vaivihkaisesti — in a furtive manner
  • French: furtivement — in a furtive manner
  • French: subrepticement — in a furtive manner
  • Gothic: 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌱𐌾𐍉 (þiubjō) — in a furtive manner
  • Japanese: ひそかに (hisoka ni) — in a furtive manner
  • Northern Kurdish: bi dizîkî — in a furtive manner
  • Northern Kurdish: bi nehînî — in a furtive manner
  • Northern Kurdish: bi razberî — in a furtive manner
  • Polish: ukradkiem — in a furtive manner
  • Polish: chyłkiem — in a furtive manner
  • Polish: potajemnie — in a furtive manner
  • Polish: cichaczem — in a furtive manner
  • Polish: skrycie — in a furtive manner
  • Polish: tajemnie — in a furtive manner
  • Polish: ukradkowo — in a furtive manner
  • Russian: скры́тно (skrýtno) — in a furtive manner
  • Russian: укра́дкой (ukrádkoj) — in a furtive manner
  • Russian: тайко́м (tajkóm) — in a furtive manner
  • Russian: та́йно (tájno) — in a furtive manner
  • Sanskrit: सनुतर् (sanutar) — in a furtive manner
  • Spanish: furtivamente — in a furtive manner
  • Spanish: a hurtadillas — in a furtive manner
  • Spanish: a furto — in a furtive manner