Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use covertly in a sentence

15 example sentences · adverb

Covertly means in a covert manner, secretly. Example: “Only a little removed from the predatory oafdom of male adolescence, he is suspicious of Christian and covertly protective of Cher's person and future.”

Examples of covertly by meaning

adverbIn a covert manner, secretly.

  • Only a little removed from the predatory oafdom of male adolescence, he is suspicious of Christian and covertly protective of Cher's person and future.1999, Barbara Tepa Lupack, Nineteenth-Century Women at the Movies, page 123

More sentences with covertly

  • Russian SPETSNAZ are irregular forces that operate covertly, providing the Russian government plausible deniability.2014, “Little Green Men”: A Primer on Modern Russian Unconventional Warfare, Ukraine 2013–2014, Fort Bragg, North Carolina: The United…. From the entry plausible
  • What if we are already under investigation from someone covertly talking with the cops?2012, Nicholas Campanella, Traglamoor's Journey. From the entry Benedict Arnold
  • More recently it has been referred to covertly as May 35th.2009 June 4, Shih-Chieh Ilya Li, “Today in China, May 35th”, in Pah, archived from the original on 08 Jun 2009. From the entry May 35th
  • Thus the opportunivore can forage either overtly or covertly, by asking up front or diving out back.2008 March, Matthew Power, “Mississippi drift: River vagrants in the age of Wal-Mart”, in Harper's Magazine. From the entry opportunivore
  • He glanced covertly at Coble to see how he was taking all this.2000, William Gay, Provinces of Night, New York, NY: Anchor Books, published 2002, →ISBN, page 94. From the entry beerbottle
  • How else but covertly, enigmatically, in the acroamatic manner practiced so beautifully in Holy War?1993, Laurence Lampert, Nietzsche and Modern Times: A Study of Bacon, Descartes, and Nietzsche, →ISBN, page 68. From the entry acroamatic
  • Lady Swinburne was watching him covertly and read some of his thoughts, for she was a discerning gentlehearted woman.2014, Anya Seton, Devil Water, →ISBN. From the entry gentlehearted
  • In other words, the message received in dreams, or obtained parabolically, always points covertly and “lackingly,” to our intersubjective relations.2012 February, Gila Safran Naveh, Biblical Parables and Their Modern Re-creations: From "Apples of Gold in Silver Settings" to "Imperial…. From the entry lackingly
  • He moved in closer, covertly noticing Vienna's underhanded peek.2011, Celine Flux, Sit-Ups and Supersex, →ISBN, page 289. From the entry underhanded
  • Their favorite harassment ploy is to covertly play “good cop-bad cop” in joint actions with openly aggressive environmental groups.1994, Ron Arnold, Alan M. Gottlieb, Trashing the Economy: How Runaway Environmentalism is Wrecking America, Merril Press, →ISBN. From the entry good cop-bad cop
  • Not only did Carré state that she could covertly contact a pianiste, but this man had also managed to evade capture by the Germans!2012, Debra Milligan, The Dawn. From the entry pianiste
  • Her Snoopy jim-jam bottoms were at half mast; she hauled them up with one hand, concerned gaze covertly raking the teenager’s damaged face.2009, Maureen Carter, chapter 14, in Blood Money, Crème de la Crime, →ISBN. From the entry jim-jam
  • That Christmas, Mama Evelyn had taught me how to play Konkan, an Iraqi variant of gin rummy that covertly doubles as a way to teach kids arithmetic.2018, Mona Hanna-Attisha, What the Eyes Don't See, A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, page 8. From the entry konkan
  • Alliance forces are stretched too thin right now to attempt to liberate the colony, but we've been doing what we can to covertly aid the local resistance.2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3: From Ashes (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: Priority Mission: Eden Prime. From the entry resistance

Meaning of covertly

  1. adverb In a covert manner, secretly.

Full definition of covertly

Questions about covertly in a sentence

How do you use covertly in a sentence?
Covertly is used as an adverb. For example: “Only a little removed from the predatory oafdom of male adolescence, he is suspicious of Christian and covertly protective of Cher's person and future.”
What is a short sentence with covertly?
“He moved in closer, covertly noticing Vienna's underhanded peek.”
What does covertly mean?
Covertly means in a covert manner, secretly.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: covertly (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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