Standard Lemma guide

quietly

adv · 6 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.

  • /ˈkwaɪ.ɪt.li/
  • /ˈkwaɪ.ət.li/ weak vowel merger
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: K W AY1 AH0 T L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

Producing little or no noise.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: loudly

2

adv

Meaning 2

Without attracting attention.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adverb

Meaning 3

with low volume

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • speak softly but carry a big stick
  • she spoke quietly to the child
  • the radio was playing softly

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: softly

Antonyms: none provided

4

adverb

Meaning 4

with little or no sound

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the class was listening quietly and intently
  • she was crying quietly

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: noisily

5

adverb

Meaning 5

with little or no activity or no agitation (`quiet' is a nonstandard variant for `quietly')

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • her hands rested quietly in her lap
  • the rock star was quietly led out the back door
  • sit here as quiet as you can

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: quiet

Antonyms: unquietly

6

adverb

Meaning 6

in a restful manner

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the streets are restfully sunny and still for the town is at mass

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: restfully

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English quietely, quyetly, equivalent to quiet + -ly.

Across languages

Translations

53 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: بِهُدُوء (bihudūʔ) — producing little or no noise
  • Armenian: կամաց (kamacʻ) — producing little or no noise
  • Armenian: հանգիստ (hangist) — producing little or no noise
  • Belarusian: ці́ха (cíxa) — producing little or no noise
  • Bulgarian: ти́хо (tího) — producing little or no noise
  • Catalan: silenciosament — producing little or no noise
  • Chinese Mandarin: 悄悄地 (qiāoqiāo de) — producing little or no noise
  • Chinese Mandarin: 安靜地 /安静地 (ānjìng de) — producing little or no noise
  • Czech: tiše — producing little or no noise
  • Esperanto: silente — producing little or no noise
  • Esperanto: kviete — producing little or no noise
  • Finnish: hiljaa — producing little or no noise
  • Finnish: hiljaisesti — producing little or no noise
  • French: paisablement — producing little or no noise
  • French: tranquillement — producing little or no noise
  • French: quiètement — producing little or no noise
  • Georgian: წყნარად (c̣q̇narad) — producing little or no noise
  • Georgian: ჩუმად (čumad) — producing little or no noise
  • German: ruhig — producing little or no noise
  • German: leise — producing little or no noise
  • German: liis — producing little or no noise
  • German: liisli — producing little or no noise
  • Greek: αθόρυβα (athóryva) — producing little or no noise
  • Ancient Greek: σιγῇ (sigēî) — producing little or no noise
  • Ancient Greek: σιωπῇ (siōpēî) — producing little or no noise
  • Ancient Greek: ἀκήν (akḗn) — producing little or no noise
  • Hindi: चुपके (cupke) — producing little or no noise
  • Hungarian: csendesen — producing little or no noise
  • Hungarian: csendben — producing little or no noise
  • Hungarian: halkan — producing little or no noise
  • Ido: silence — producing little or no noise
  • Japanese: 静かに (shizuka ni) — producing little or no noise
  • Korean: 조용하게 (joyonghage) — producing little or no noise
  • Korean: 조용히 (joyonghi) — producing little or no noise
  • Macedonian: тивко (tivko) — producing little or no noise
  • Māori: māika — producing little or no noise
  • Marathi: शांतपणे (śāntapṇe) — producing little or no noise
  • Nahuatl: yocoxquia — producing little or no noise
  • Polish: cicho — producing little or no noise
  • Portuguese: silenciosamente — producing little or no noise
  • Russian: ти́хо (tíxo) — producing little or no noise
  • Russian: сми́рно (smírno) — producing little or no noise
  • Northern Sami: jaska — producing little or no noise
  • Sanskrit: तूष्णीम् (tūṣṇīm) — producing little or no noise
  • Scottish Gaelic: os ìosal — producing little or no noise
  • Serbo-Croatian: tȉho — producing little or no noise
  • Serbo-Croatian: ти̏хо — producing little or no noise
  • Slovak: ticho — producing little or no noise
  • Slovene: tiho — producing little or no noise
  • Spanish: mansamente — producing little or no noise
  • Spanish: despacio — producing little or no noise
  • Tocharian B: ām — producing little or no noise
  • Ukrainian: ти́хо (týxo) — producing little or no noise