Discreetly or discretely?
discreetly is an adverb meaning “Acting in a discreet manner; acting in a way that respects privacy or secrecy…”; discretely is an adverb meaning “As a separate independent unit”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) discreetly is about 5.2 times as common as discretely.
What is the difference between discreetly and discretely?
| discreetly | discretely | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adverb | adverb |
| Meaning | Acting in a discreet manner; acting in a way that respects privacy or secrecy; quietly Inconspicuously | As a separate independent unit |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Pronunciation | /dᵻˈskritli/ | /dɪsˈkɹiːt.li/ |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words | about once in every 5 million words |
Sources: discreetly and discretely in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of discreetly and discretely
discreetly
- 1
Acting in a discreet manner; acting in a way that respects privacy or secrecy; quietly
- 2
Inconspicuously
discretely
- 1
As a separate independent unit
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, discreetly or discretely?
discreetly appears 1.1 times per million words; discretely about once in every 5 million words.
discreetly 1.1 times per million wordsdiscretely about once in every 5 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).