discretely
/dɪsˈkɹiːt.li/adverb
discretely is spelled D-I-S-C-R-E-T-E-L-Y: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,114th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, discretely means “As a separate independent unit” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in discretely?
| Letters | 10: D-I-S-C-R-E-T-E-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 65,114th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is discretely?
Discretely appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,114th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce discretely?
- UK /dɪsˈkɹiːt.li/
Discretely has 3 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-discretely.wav, En-us-discretely.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with discretely
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with discretely?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as discretely (/itli/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: discreetly.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of discretely
- more discretely comparative
- most discretely superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does discretely mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
As a separate independent unit.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Discretely in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense as a separate independent unit:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | discretamente |
| Spanish | discretamente |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does discretely come from?
From discrete + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).