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discreet
in a sentence
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  • You can count on her to be discreet.
    discreet = trustworthy with secrets and/or inconspicuous or unobtrusive
  • We are discreet at the office. We never display affection or act as though we date.
    discreet = careful not to attract attention
  • I will be discreet in my investigation.
    discreet = careful not to attract attention or cause embarrassment
  • They can discreetly get you duplicates.   (source)
    discreetly = in a manner that is unlikely to attract attention
  • Risa wonders whether or not there's a discreet way to check without Alexis seeing, but realizes there isn't.   (source)
    discreet = inconspicuous (not attracting attention)
  • In a confidential tone, he added, "We need some discreet assistance here."   (source)
    discreet = trustworthy with secrets and careful not to attract attention or cause embarrassment
  • The Japanese athletes were especially taken with the deer and began feeding them treats in such volume that the Germans discreetly moved the deer out.   (source)
    discreetly = in a manner that didn't attract attention
  • Then, as discreetly as I could, I said, "What's the matter with you, boy, not liking Mr. Morrison?"   (source)
    discreetly = in a manner that is unlikely to attract attention
  • Please don't say anything. It's imperative you're discreet.   (source)
    discreet = trustworthy with secrets
  • ...never take a check from a Delafield without a discreet call to the bank;   (source)
    discreet = inconspicuous (not attracting attention)
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  • She tilted her chin so that one plume swept gracefully against her cheek, discreetly curled and uncurled her numb toes inside the kid slippers, and set herself to endure.   (source)
    discreetly = in a manner that is unlikely to attract attention
  • If Whitney's orders hadn't come through with the warrant, instructing her to be discreet, Eve would have marched onto the Senate floor and cuffed him in front of his associates.   (source)
    discreet = inconspicuous or unobtrusive (so as not to attract attention)
  • Uhmma discreetly wets her fingers with some spit and reaches up, pressing the lock of hair back down.   (source)
    discreetly = inconspicuously (in a manner not likely to attract attention)
  • I also told them to engage a staff of servants whom I was prepared to pay very liberally — so long as they keep their mouths shut, I thought — provided that they are discreet, I wrote.   (source)
    discreet = trustworthy with secrets
  • ...and in the end he can't be kept from making a few discreet inquiries, among friends.   (source)
    discreet = inconspicuous (not attracting attention)
  • ...like you handled that operation you done on my daughter, so discreetly that a hillbilly Heckler is shouting me questions about it wherever I speak?   (source)
    discreetly = in a manner that is unlikely to attract attention or cause embarrassment
  • So Tom Buchanan and his girl and I went up together to New York — or not quite together, for Mrs. Wilson sat discreetly in another car.   (source)
  • Get to your bed and try to behave more discreetly.   (source)
    discreetly = in a manner that is unlikely to attract attention
  • Sylvia left the cow to whatever sad fate might await her, and stepped discreetly aside into the bushes, but she was just too late.  The enemy had discovered her, and...   (source)
    discreetly = inconspicuously (in a manner unlikely to attract attention)
  • Then she saw a gentleman standing in the middle of the room, from which her aunt had discreetly retired.   (source)
    discreetly = in a manner that is unlikely to attract attention or cause embarrassment
  • The orgies may not have been that far from the mark, although I have to say that whatever Winifred did in that direction was always done discreetly.†   (source)
  • Discreetly, the Count glanced back.†   (source)
  • Perhaps Grandfather could inquire discreetly.†   (source)
  • It was discreetly crafted.†   (source)
  • He nodded discreetly at the square-shouldered man on his left and took another sip of the tea he was offered.†   (source)
  • It was as I was passing reception that I saw the computer terminal, discreetly placed in a corner.†   (source)
  • He nodded discreetly toward a distant table.†   (source)
  • Cynthia Collins glanced discreetly at her watch.†   (source)
  • At eight o'clock that same night, I'm stumbling down Aibileen's street as discreetly as one can carrying a fifty-pound Corona typewriter.†   (source)
  • Even as she turned her back to close the door discreetly, she was aware that the church was almost empty.†   (source)
  • "We're out of rice," I say, discreetly nodding toward my mother, whose back is turned to me.†   (source)
  • Wren discreetly took a sip of his wine.†   (source)
  • He lowers his head over his desk, discreetly presses his hands against his ears.†   (source)
  • On the day of the Great On-Turning two soberly dressed programmers with briefcases arrived and were shown discreetly into the office.†   (source)
  • Hobie, I noticed, was standing discreetly in the hall.†   (source)
  • You are our contact, Nguyen Xuan, and you have adopted this pathetic disguise to discreetly check for weaponry.†   (source)
  • On the other side, a number of cabins with views of the lake were placed discreetly among the trees.†   (source)
  • I plucked another tissue from the box and tried to discreetly blow my nose.†   (source)
  • "Having the advantages I do," he murmured, touching his forehead discreetly, "I have a better than average grasp of human nature.†   (source)
  • With demand outpacing supply, doctors established a custom of graciously and discreetly accepting any offered cadaver.†   (source)
  • She yelled up to him, as discreetly as she could, to no avail.†   (source)
  • It was the ground floor of a house, the inside decked out with beds and Jacuzzi tubs, the medical equipment discreetly tucked away.†   (source)
  • I discreetly placed the food under the car seats and walked back in.†   (source)
  • Between them they decided that it would be best to disturb her discreetly rather than wake her suddenly.†   (source)
  • Flamel coughed discreetly.†   (source)
  • I made my exit as discreetly as possible just as his lordship, still on his feet, was embarking on a further point.†   (source)
  • I discreetly position my feet so that if he leaps at Prchal, I can try to protect her.†   (source)
  • A few seconds later, she discreetly looked toward me, pretending she was stretching.†   (source)
  • I began putting out feelers, discreetly asking friends and coworkers if they might be interested in taking on a lovable and lively two-year-old Labrador retriever.†   (source)
  • Sophie noticed that Joanna and Jeremy had already begun eyeing each other discreetly.†   (source)
  • On impulse I reached into my obi for the brocade card holder I kept there, and discreetly removed one card, which I passed to him.†   (source)
  • I saw the ushers from the left side of the church near the big windows begin to move discreetly, like pallbearers, toward Sister Monroe's bench.†   (source)
  • Very discreetly.†   (source)
  • My mother had pointed them out to me after services, eyeing them discreetly as they hurried home.†   (source)
  • Then he said, blowing her a kiss, but discreetly, so Yellin couldn't see, "Yes yes, how forgetful I am, every ship but four."†   (source)
  • I swallowed discreetly and tried to ignore the queasy tap dance in my stomach.†   (source)
  • Or they were to be found, as five o'clock fell, in discreetly dim, anonymously appointed bars, uneasy, in brittle, uneasy, female company, pouring down joyless martinis.†   (source)
  • He made a point of discreetly inserting bits and pieces of news into his sermons, something we appreciated.†   (source)
  • She pats my other hand and leaves the room, discreetly ignoring my tears.†   (source)
  • As discreetly as she could, she signed, No choice.†   (source)
  • I follow, and Izzi trails us, discreetly and at a distance.†   (source)
  • I turned off the Beltway and approached the building discreetly.†   (source)
  • His parents hugged him, then discreetly walked across the waiting room to stand at the window there, looking out at the runway and the big stretch of blue sky that hung over it.†   (source)
  • Our firm's private investigator, Reggie Turner, discreetly followed Jason throughout the month.†   (source)
  • So Eragon ordered Garven to wake all the Nighthawks and bring them to him as discreetly as possible.†   (source)
  • Discreetly, Felicity passes me a note.†   (source)
  • One night when they were sixteen, Jeff, Richard, and Adam rolled a house in an entire case of toilet paper, then tore through the woods to get back to the car they'd left discreetly parked on a different street.†   (source)
  • Tara took advantage of the time alone to nurse Amira discreetly.†   (source)
  • Churchill, Truman, and their aides conferred discreetly on one further, just-emerging alternative: the one whose detritus still floated in the high winds above the testing ground at Alamogordo Air Base in New Mexico, where it had fissioned into human history only days earlier, at five-thirty A.M., on July 16.†   (source)
  • Obasan puts her gift of food discreetly behind the second wood pile, where it will be seen after we leave, then returns to sit beside me and wait The ojisan who is binding the cloth on the stick pours some gasoline onto the cloth from another container and, setting a light to it, he holds the flaming torch high up in front of him.†   (source)
  • She couldn't fail to notice that Nicolas discreetly asked about her but made no attempt to visit her.†   (source)
  • With lips still quivering, he rose and trudged outside reluctantly to break the bad news to Gus and Wes, discreetly avoiding any conversation with Doc Daneeka himself as he moved by the flight surgeon's slight sepulchral figure roosting despondently on his stool in the late-afternoon sunlight between the orderly room and the medical tent.†   (source)
  • Kate said as we discreetly followed the monster to what we hoped was his lair in the woods, his harem, his "disappearing house."†   (source)
  • And he's telling me discreetly so Clare won't get jealous.†   (source)
  • She tried to smooth it down discreetly and caught Jace's grin in the next mirror.†   (source)
  • But not so discreetly that Seivarden hadn't seen it.†   (source)
  • Alex Conklin and Mo Panov stayed discreetly behind as Bourne led Marie outside to the gate area fronting the field beyond a waist-high metal fence.†   (source)
  • Their separation was more grievous than any, for as she confided discreetly "circumstances" conspired.†   (source)
  • Not the normal kind of clientele, Hal had discreetly informed him.†   (source)
  • As he passed by, I fished out the bra from earlier that night and discreetly draped it on a radio antenna attached to his back.†   (source)
  • Rosalind and I met infrequently and very discreetly.†   (source)
  • His hair was parted low on the right side so that some twenty or thirty yellow hairs could discreetly cover the nakedness of his head.†   (source)
  • Easing up from their cushions, they slipped discreetly out of the tent.†   (source)
  • Their absence would be noted even if you could separate them discreetly from the Yunkai'i.†   (source)
  • Special Agent Behn discreetly informs the president's secretary that Jackie is being airlifted to the hospital at Otis Air Force Base, located near Falmouth, Massachusetts, on the western edge of Cape Cod.†   (source)
  • Raffe fades into the growing crowd, discreetly buttoning up his shirt.†   (source)
  • Fortier hadn't grasped the true potential of the right biological weapon until he watched one of those nations discreetly use an agent of Svensson's against the Americans.†   (source)
  • As discreetly and carefully as whatever animals in the garden fold brown leaves into their mouths, visit the drain for water, or scale the broken glass that crowns the walls.†   (source)
  • As noted, I did this discreetly.†   (source)
  • They had been discreetly mounted on cardboard, and fastened up with push pins so as not to deface the walls.†   (source)
  • The words that nearly cause my heart to stop, though they are discreetly stitched in black on a small white label:Givenchy Couture .†   (source)
  • His staff recognized his mood and left him discreetly alone.†   (source)
  • " Mr. Rhodes pulled into the bright parking lot and just as discreetly as it had found me, Dean's hand disappeared.†   (source)
  • Her hair was newly coiffed, her face was discreetly but thoroughly made up.†   (source)
  • He somehow had to get two trucks loaded, quietly, discreetly, then to the pick-up point without any possibility of the Horvath noticing.†   (source)
  • In March of 1925 her son and his schoolteacher went discreetly down to Washington to be married.†   (source)
  • He came to the flat and discreetly let me know that he was there, and staying.†   (source)
  • In the row in front of him--Sol would be in the very last row--some college student would be elbowing another discreetly, saying, "You know who that is, the bald one?†   (source)
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  • I need someone who is discreet--not someone as clueless and foolish as her little brother.
  • Mr. Raymond chuckled, not at all offended, and I tried to frame a discreet question: "Why do you do like you do?"   (source)
    discreet = polite (using good judgment)
  • He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction.   (source)
  • I consider the blessing of a wife as most justly described in those discreet lines of the poet—'Heaven's last best gift.'   (source)
    discreet = sensible
  • Do you want to be told that you are only unlike other people in being more wise and discreet?   (source)
  • It would have been indiscreet and unprofessional for us to become sexual partners.   (source)
    indiscreet = not sensible or careful
    standard prefix: The prefix "in-" in indiscreet means not and reverses the meaning of discreet. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
  • Well, I have been indiscreet, formerly; but I think I have got over it.   (source)
  • Allow me to say that it is extremely indiscreet of you to form secret alliances with young men.   (source)
  • My daughter, whom you have never seen, is nothing to you; and I, possibly, am only an indiscreet and impertinent old man.   (source)
  • Discreet he was, and of great reverence:
    He seemed such, his wordes were so wise,   (source)
    discreet = sensible and careful
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  • A madness most discreet,   (source)
    discreet = sensible
  • And some men said, that great delight have we
    For to be held stable and eke secre,* *discreet
    And in one purpose steadfastly to dwell,
    And not bewray* a thing that men us tell.   (source)
    discreet = sensible and careful
  • And though he holy were, and virtuous,
    He was to sinful men not dispitous* *severe
    Nor of his speeche dangerous nor dign* *disdainful
    But in his teaching discreet and benign.   (source)
  • Therewith he was, to speak of lineage,
    The gentilest y-born of Lombardy,
    A fair person, and strong, and young of age,
    And full of honour and of courtesy:
    Discreet enough his country for to gie,* *guide, rule
    Saving in some things that he was to blame;
    And Walter was this younge lordes name.   (source)
  • But honestly and slyly* he it spent, *discreetly, prudently
    That no man wonder'd how that he it had.   (source)
    discreetly = in a manner that is sensible and careful
  • This prayer must be truly said, and in very faith, and that men pray to God ordinately, discreetly, and devoutly; and always a man shall put his will to be subject to the will of God.   (source)
  • For he from vices would him aye chastise
    Discreetly, as by word, and not by deed;
    "Sir," he would say, "an emperor must need
    Be virtuous, and hate tyranny."   (source)
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show 10 more examples with any meaning
  • Against a setting of white narcissi, white trelliswork bowers, and lighted tapers in silver sconces festooned with bunches of faux black Muscadine grapes bedecked with spiralling silver ribbon, Mrs. Prior received in a gracious Chanel gown of ashes-of-roses with a draped skirt, its bodice ornamented with discreet seed pearls.†   (source)
  • Over Kitty's head Josh mouths to me, We'll talk later, and I give him a discreet thumbs-up.†   (source)
  • As a result, only the most discreet inquiries were made.†   (source)
  • Oh, how he hopes they will be discreet.†   (source)
  • "I'm looking for a discreet printer."†   (source)
  • It covered every inch of my body from the neck down and had discreet openings so I could relieve myself without removing the entire thing.†   (source)
  • He tried to be discreet, but she saw him bring his hand to his mouth.†   (source)
  • When the Church outlawed speaking of the shunned Mary Magdalene, her story and importance had to be passed on through more discreet channels… channels that supported metaphor and symbolism.†   (source)
  • He will need to be discreet, however.†   (source)
  • Sometimes, at day's end, the cook at the buffet-style restaurant let Rasheed bring home a few leftovers-as long as he was discreet about it-cold meatballs sloshing in oil; fried chicken wings, the crust gone hard and dry; stuffed pasta shells turned chewy; stiff, gravelly rice.†   (source)
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  • The airline staff was solicitous and discreet, and careful with the chair.†   (source)
  • Each house, large and close to its neighbors, rose like a solid and discreet blossom out of its neat lawn and thick embracing shrubbery.†   (source)
  • "Though I'd hardly consider your valiant rescue to be entirely discreet."†   (source)
  • Nicole has a full-length locker in a discreet, fresh-smelling alcove because she's on the soccer team.†   (source)
  • A discreet friend.†   (source)
  • I saw through the front blinds, which my mother always kept at a half-slant—"inviting but discreet"—that Grace Tarking, who lived down the street and went to a private school, was walking with ankle weights strapped to her feet.†   (source)
  • Pedro and Tita had sworn to be absolutely discreet about their meetings and keep their love a secret.†   (source)
  • I tell her we'll make an effort to be more discreet, but we don't.†   (source)
  • The soldiers followed at a discreet distance: they split up and formed a large circle, to guard them from the widest possible perimeter.†   (source)
  • We provide discreet and confidential State-of-the-Art storage solutions for a wide range of businesses and private clients.†   (source)
  • I heard some discreet coughing, and looked down the hall.†   (source)
  • "Horst will be discreet," assured Eragon.†   (source)
  • Our last hundred years of extravagance, it seems, had been financed through massive loans from the Ring Bank and other discreet extraterrestrial institutions.†   (source)
  • Packinghouse princes ran off with parlormaids and bank presidents seduced typewriters; when necessary, their attorneys arranged quiet solo voyages to Europe to the surgical suites of discreet but capable doctors.†   (source)
  • Paul D could see just the beginning of the paper; discreet flecks of yellow sprinkled among a blizzard of snowdrops all backed by blue.†   (source)
  • They were also discreet, in keeping with the dictates of their trade.†   (source)
  • …heard a weather forecast; he remembered the pleased, flustered, grinning waiter telling him that the storm currently heading their way was supposed to slide off to the south, toward New Mexico; he remembered the chill feel of the bottle, the discreet sound of the cork as he eased it free; he remembered the dry, acerbic-acidic taste of the first glass and opening his travel bag and looking at his plane ticket back to New York; he remembered suddenly, on the spur of the moment, deciding…†   (source)
  • —rather than treating the whole marriage campaign like a military maneuver, a series of battles to be won or lost based on flounced dresses, tasteful décolletage and discreet flirting (but not too much!†   (source)
  • The pill itself silently self-destructing in a tiny inward burst, a polymer implosion, discreet and precise and considerate.†   (source)
  • I drop the tablet on the ground, trying to be discreet.†   (source)
  • I washed up a little, then moved a discreet distance away and listened to her sing several rather racy songs.†   (source)
  • They had to do something, Nathaniel insisted in a discreet huddle with his sisters.†   (source)
  • But she's been surprisingly discreet for a girl of her generation.†   (source)
  • It was a haven that suited his way of loving, because the location was discreet despite the fact that the numerous windows that gave the street its name made one think of too many eyes behind the curtains.†   (source)
  • He sat upright as a discreet tapping sounded at the door in the wall behind him.†   (source)
  • It wasn't, though, a good place for a discreet conversation—not nearly as good as the lunch queue.†   (source)
  • He could be counted on to hide beneath the couch all day and only come out after we were asleep to eat his food, kept high out of Marley's reach, and use the kitty-litter box, which we tucked away in a discreet corner of the screened patio that enclosed the pool.†   (source)
  • She secured a room of her own atop the house of a widow, a record player and small collection of vinyl, a circle of acquaintances among the city's free spirits, and a connection to a discreet and nonjudgmental female gynecologist.†   (source)
  • Geisha are expected to be discreet about the men they know; so you may be puzzled to hear that several years earlier while still an apprentice, I'd gone into a paper store one afternoon and bought a beautiful book of blank pages to begin keeping a diary about my life.†   (source)
  • It was then she noticed the discreet bronze plaque.†   (source)
  • Jordan took a discreet look, then snorted.†   (source)
  • The crowning touches were discreet earrings and a simple gold chain around her neck.†   (source)
  • I gave Patch a discreet push in the direction of the Jeep.†   (source)
  • 'And I was being discreet,' her mother said.†   (source)
  • He wondered if he could produce a stick of dynamite from his tool belt and do a little discreet demolition; but he figured the caretakers of this place probably wouldn't approve.†   (source)
  • One day, through Mrs. Azahr, she held a discreet conversation with me.†   (source)
  • In the deep black shadow of this shed, while their friends stood at a discreet distance from them; and the station attendant moved up and down the platform, shouting, "En voiture, s'il vous plait!†   (source)
  • Amber understood that he wanted to be discreet and gave him her address.†   (source)
  • She was so discreet she'd never even asked him for an itinerary, so when Bree called from the hospital in Lexington she had not known how to reach him with the shocking news: David, running in the arboretum, had been stricken with a massive heart attack and died.†   (source)
  • So he was just being discreet on the Report!†   (source)
  • Even Pap Himes had sought the coolest corner of the porch, his pipe put out, as adding too much to the general swelter, and the hot, yellow cat perched at a discreet distance.†   (source)
  • He said he would make "discreet inquiries."†   (source)
  • The motorcycle wasn't as fast as running, but it was more discreet.†   (source)
  • I was discreet, I suppose.†   (source)
  • "That can be arranged, sir, but it will have to be discreet," Moore cautioned.†   (source)
  • Puller looked at Cole and said in a low voice, "You always this discreet with info?"†   (source)
  • "Take care of Sissy and Mommy," Adam said to Nathan on October 5, giving a discreet wink to Kelley.†   (source)
  • They were very polite and I never really felt in danger, but they did say that, for my safety, they would provide me with discreet protection.†   (source)
  • In short order Tummeler had the vehicle running (with a discreet assist from Aven, who didn't want to embarrass the small mammal in front of visitors by pointing out that a clump of badger fur was obscuring one of the contacts in the engine) and they started across the valley to the castle.†   (source)
  • Her letters described her secluded, melancholy life, and she referred to her husband with blind sympathy, as a fine, discreet, considerate man.†   (source)
  • Nately's father was discreet and cultured; this old man was a boor.†   (source)
  • If we are discreet, we can watch them.†   (source)
  • WE TRAILED the Range Rover at a discreet distance, straight back to the cabin.†   (source)
  • Meanwhile, at the Table of the Marinara Pansy, the discreet charms of the upper-middle class have been shrunk to the manageable notion of beet flan.†   (source)
  • Had he understood her discreet message?†   (source)
  • In the window of Denny and George is a discreet sign.†   (source)
  • I'll tell Maia," Luke promised, and from then on the blood had come in discreet glass milk bottles.†   (source)
  • She picks now to be discreet!†   (source)
  • As I suspected, he relies on the well respected and discreet Swiss.†   (source)
  • He was trying to be as quiet, as discreet, as possible, but to me every frame he snapped off seemed like a tap shoe on a tile floor.†   (source)
  • My uncle was very discreet, but he did allow that he watched the honored judge go to the Inter-Island counter and purchase a ticket.†   (source)
  • Your father …. he wanted to keep things discreet.†   (source)
  • The Dodgers fan followed at a discreet distance, well disguised by the ordinariness of his dress and demeanor.†   (source)
  • The guards fell back to a discreet distance.†   (source)
  • And he is almost as sexually active as the president—only far more discreet about how he manages his affairs.†   (source)
  • I lift my sword, trying to be as discreet as I can.†   (source)
  • He'd spent most of the last two days scouring the electronic highways and making discreet phone calls in his attempt to piece this puzzle together, and now that it was together, he wasn't sure his effort had been a good idea.†   (source)
  • Christina was learning from Daisy how to be discreet.†   (source)
  • I can also be discreet and if Annie Kate robbed a bank or molested chickadees in a bird sanctuary, I don't care.†   (source)
  • He makes discreet inquiries among the younger girls, turning it into a sort of game to see if any of them have heard or seen some clue, however small.†   (source)
  • The thin muscle on the upper arms, the bones and veins at the wrist that almost become part of the discreet bangle, all disappearing into the river of bright sari or faded cotton print.†   (source)
  • Unlike the more discreet Calderon, who had been recalled to her majesty's court, Argaiz's overtures were aggressive, relentless, and extraverted.†   (source)
  • The room, barely six by eight, featured a single-paned window in the shape of a face that swung out to a discreet view of my father's exquisitely landscaped garden of cut stones and flowers.†   (source)
  • Try to be more discreet.†   (source)
  • None of them felt entirely certain about funeral etiquette—whom to greet, where to look, who should be handed discreet envelopes of cash at the end of the service.†   (source)
  • I'm with the wives and the girlfriends, and these Vikings aren't exactly discreet.†   (source)
  • He had tried to be discreet, but it was all happening without him, without one decision; it was all in God's hands.†   (source)
  • A moment after he entered the room, there was a discreet knock at the door.†   (source)
  • "Discreet calls," Tyler said desperately.†   (source)
  • To her right, a discreet stand of sycamores, peeling.†   (source)
  • His inquiries were always discreet, hopeful.†   (source)
  • Be discreet.†   (source)
  • I stood in the sunlight outside the church, noticing that passersby either lifted their hats or made a discreet sign of the cross on their chests as they came abreast of the church.†   (source)
  • He knows when to open up a subject, when to shy away from it, when to be direct, when to be discreet.†   (source)
  • So the army was discreet.†   (source)
  • I made very discreet inquiries and you would never guess.†   (source)
  • If he worked with books, records, letters, he did it alone, late at night, unseen by mortal eyes unless perhaps the eyes of the man called Wittaker, his amanuensis, as he said, bald hawklike man in drab brown suits, nails too perfectly manicured, on one hand a discreet bronze ring like a Czechoslovakian coin.†   (source)
  • Leading him on by discreet questions, I soon had a fairly clear idea of the Wells outfit, the cattle they ran, and conditions generally.†   (source)
  • There's a sort of theory in the Circus that Etonians are discreet.†   (source)
  • Being tactful and discreet, he made no attempt to talk him out of his extravagant ideas.†   (source)
  • Hannah indicated the discreet serge.†   (source)
  • The two Jaguars were holding back at a discreet distance.†   (source)
  • It's the basic syrup with just a soupcon of discreet impudence ….†   (source)
  • @kins was obviously being discreet and it smelled as though Tate was after something.†   (source)
  • He obeyed, stealing a discreet glance through the divider.†   (source)
  • But they had been discreet, hadn't they?†   (source)
  • Then he adds that nobody need know, provided they are discreet.†   (source)
  • The first thing we need to do is ask some discreet questions.†   (source)
  • Since Karl was loyal and discreet, Paul had taken him into his confidence.†   (source)
  • A discreet inquiry was made by the Count of a certain actress with certain connections.†   (source)
  • There were outside sunken baths with discreet hoists, and specialist masseurs.†   (source)
  • "Why don't I just go and have a discreet talk with Prosecutor Ekström?"†   (source)
  • Or perhaps the Auberge du Coin in Montrouge; it's very discreet.†   (source)
  • I heard nothing behind us, not even a discreet fart, so it was impossible to know.†   (source)
  • I had been discreet about it—lowering my lashes and murmuring something about changing.†   (source)
  • Attolia permitted them their gossip so long as they were discreet.†   (source)
  • The elves sheathed their blades and retreated to a discreet distance from the tent.†   (source)
  • I saw him in class, and he gave me a discreet and yet special smile.†   (source)
  • He knew she was discreet and would not divulge their rendezvous.†   (source)
  • Mom and Dad were in a corner, trying to be discreet.†   (source)
  • Your amusements are your own, I will not chide you on that count, but you must be more discreet.†   (source)
  • I drew a discreet step back and clutched my handbag against me.†   (source)
  • Over the following years Gullberg kept Bjurman under discreet but regular surveillance.†   (source)
  • We've tried to be discreet to avoid hurting anyone we love."†   (source)
  • Irene Nesser wore more discreet makeup than Lisbeth Salander.†   (source)
  • I'd like you to arrange a discreet surveillance of Mrs. Cranshaw, by the way.†   (source)
  • He's generally rather discreet when it comes to his lady friends.†   (source)
  • Methamphetamine was a discreet and easy-to-manage source of income—big profits, small risks.†   (source)
  • All previous crimes of the Russian empire had been committed under the cover of a discreet shadow.†   (source)
  • Something more prudent, more reasonable, more discreet.†   (source)
  • Plutarch gives a discreet cough.†   (source)
  • If I had been a less discreet employee, I would have told them that Suleiman Wahdati was a mystifying creature to me, a man seemingly satisfied with living the rest of his days off the wealth of his inheritance, a man with no profession, no apparent passion, and apparently no impulse to leave behind something of himself in this world.†   (source)
  • I bend over to do up my red shoes; lighter weight these days, with discreet slits cut in them, though nothing so daring as sandals.†   (source)
  • Discreet.†   (source)
  • The blue sharks were smaller, usually no more than four or five feet long, and the most attractive, sleek and slender, with small mouths and discreet gill slits.†   (source)
  • Everyone had decided to leave the rosewood box and larger cryptex behind in the plane's strongbox, carrying with them only what they needed, the far more portable and discreet black cryptex.†   (source)
  • The vows of eternal love, the dream of a discreet house for her alone where he could visit her with no unexpected interruptions, their unhurried happiness for as long as they lived--everything he had promised in the blazing heat of love was canceled forever after.†   (source)
  • Of course he can be discreet.†   (source)
  • She was there three minutes ahead of schedule, and she spent the waiting time posing in front of the surveillance camera, which took her picture as she walked into the department with offices for discreet private consultations.†   (source)
  • Not that he was a gossip," he added hastily, "Welty was very discreet, buttoned up to here, but people confided in him, he was that sort, you know?†   (source)
  • What I remember is that there was this discreet agreement among us all not to quiz each other too much about our claims.†   (source)
  • Instead of boring, mass-produced posters, the art on the walls were original paintings and photos, which the discreet note on the desk identified as works by local artists available at Artful, a shop on South Main.†   (source)
  • Mikael, please be discreet.†   (source)
  • I leaned down to read the note, printed in discreet letters on the wall, which informed me that the painter —Adriaen Coorte, dates of birth and death uncertain—had been unknown in his own lifetime and his work unrecognized until the 1950s.†   (source)
  • After a discreet inquiry, he had learned that the evening's special at the Boyarsky was roasted duck—the perfect dish for two old friends to share.†   (source)
  • Can he be discreet?†   (source)
  • A warm sweetness rose from his skin, the scent of the shaving cream, and something that was peculiar to Will himself, discreet and expensive.†   (source)
  • "I'll be discreet."†   (source)
  • In fact, on TsUM's lower level there is a nicely appointed office where a discreet gentleman will give you store credit for half the value of your grandmother's jewelry.†   (source)
  • I had been doing this for about ten minutes when the discreet hum of the motorized wheelchair alerted me to Will's arrival.†   (source)
  • Working his way through the hubbub, the Count approached the more discreet end of the bar (where an alabaster pillar fell from the ceiling to the floor).†   (source)
  • It was so unexpected that at first I didn't recognize it—Mrs. Traynor's Mercedes, navy blue, low-slung, and discreet.†   (source)
  • Mindful of their surroundings, the three damsels would initially speak in the hushed voices of gentility; but swept away by the currents of their own emotions, their voices would inevitably rise, such that by 11:15, even the most discreet enjoyer of a pastry would have no choice but to eavesdrop on the thousand-layered complications of their hearts.†   (source)
  • Once she was inside Miss Graham's house she changed into her uniform (which was a discreet blue anyway, not white) and put on a pair of loafers before she dropped to her knees with the pail of soapy water.†   (source)
  • Light, discreet makeup.†   (source)
  • Roran joined Albriech and Baldor, who walked behind their parents at a discreet distance, giving them privacy to talk.†   (source)
  • This is a discreet private loony bin.†   (source)
  • Some discreet accommodation had been made for their tastes, and they mingled among the others holding sleek metal flutes, plucked from the champagne table, whose opacity hid the liquid inside.†   (source)
  • Her schoolmates believed this because she was already the most beautiful, distinguished, and discreet girl they had ever seen.†   (source)
  • When I awoke I made several discreet contacts and by the afternoon the procedure was arranged and scheduled for the following Monday.†   (source)
  • "Ekström said that you're discreet."†   (source)
  • A discreet brass plaque proclaimed that the building housed something called the International Society for French Literature, a particularly Rousseauian touch.†   (source)
  • He had been invited to several discreet meetings with various upper-level British government officials to discuss slavery in America and the abolition movement.†   (source)
  • This is the way she goes through life as well, feigning ignorance and keeping a discreet distance from all but a few trusted confidants.†   (source)
  • I was pretty sure Emily Post wouldn't have covered this topic, but it seemed more discreet to wait until after we were served our main course to start talking about how to kill a man.†   (source)
  • The carrier battle groups would be following them all the way to Iceland, keeping a discreet distance and maintaining air groups at the fringe of their radar coverage continuously, just to let them know that the United States still cared.†   (source)
  • The sort of place well-off people use for stowing away those members of their families who are not considered fit to run around in public, in order to keep them from being carted off to 999 Queen, which is neither discreet nor private.†   (source)
  • I remembered how she had escorted me to Snow Flower's house just after my wedding, how she had cared for me after I'd given birth to my babies, and how she had turned out to be loyal and discreet in carrying my letters to my laotong.†   (source)
  • If she does, one can accept it-even be relieved, I imagine-hoping to God she has the sense to be discreet.†   (source)
  • At that moment, the twelve elves emerged from the dry streambed, and Garven, after murmuring additional thanks, moved a discreet distance from Nasuada.†   (source)
  • I didn't want her officially listed as a runaway, as I was afraid the designation would remain indefinitely on her personal records, and I knew I could count on Officer Como to keep a watch on the place and its frequent visitors—mostly men in their twenties and thirties, many, according to her, known troublemakers and felons—and be publicly discreet about Sunny's habitation.†   (source)
  • A local resident's vehicle, to be used for drive-by reconnaissance missions in Mosul, needed to have installed a discreet surveillance system with its own power source.†   (source)
  • "I'm not a doctor, but I'm discreet.†   (source)
  • A large black limousine with a small discreet religious insignia on its passenger door, the cruciform standard of some high office of the Church, inched its way to the canopied area.†   (source)
  • …prints.
    In the village,
    a woman shuffles rice in a cane mat.
    Grit and husk separate
    are thrown to the sun.
    From his darkness among high flowers
    to this room contained by mud walls
    everything that is important occurs in shadow—
    her discreet slow moving his dreams of walking
    from tree to tree without ropes.
    It is not vanity which allows him this freedom
    but skill and habit, the curved knife
    his father gave him, it is the coolness up there
    —for the ground's heat has not…†   (source)
  • For a moment I consider being discreet.†   (source)
  • Neither of the two brothers appreciated the Frenchman's charms, despite his discreet attempts to win their favor.†   (source)
  • Amaranta's sensibility, her discreet but enveloping tenderness had been wearing an invisible web about her fiance, which he had to push aside materially with his pale and ringless fingers in order to leave the house at eight o'clock.†   (source)
  • She jerked her head at the bar and mouthed Go, while making discreet shooing motions below the table.†   (source)
  • If he could continue to be discreet, the chances of me kissing Kile again were very, very high …. but I couldn't imagine actually being married to him.†   (source)
  • He was so discreet and gentle that she finally forgot about his proposal; she even thought it might have been some sort of joke on the count's part.†   (source)
  • We'll go to some tiny little restaurant, and at first it'll be all quiet and discreet, but then the press will find out and we'll become one of those really famous couples who go to premieres all the time.†   (source)
  • Texas governor John Connally, the conservative Democrat who has been maintaining a discreet political distance from the president, is quietly in favor of a less ambitious itinerary.†   (source)
  • In Virginia Beach Adam enjoyed a quiet celebration with Kelley, Nathan, Savannah, and their closest friends, who understood the need to be discreet about this fabled tier one counterterrorism special mission unit.†   (source)
  • All they know is that a ranking economist at National Revenue's Treasury Board made discreet inquiries about an unlisted American corporation and got himself killed for it.†   (source)
  • He had been discreet and he paid well; the problem was that prostitutes were not serious, they were only pretending.†   (source)
  • She was considered the most elegant, discreet, and charming lady of their social circle and no one would have dreamt that the distinguished couple never spoke.†   (source)
  • About a year ago she made a discreet request to Malraux, who then arranged the loan—much to the outrage of Parisians, many of whom consider America a cultural wasteland.†   (source)
  • He met James Jesus Angleton, and he got to drink whisky at a discreet club in London with the chief of MI6.†   (source)
  • I didn't even try to be discreet.†   (source)
  • Over the years he had been meticulously laying the groundwork, by means of contacts, friendships, secret meetings, discreet but effective public appearances, and gifts of money or favors made to the right people at the right moment.†   (source)
  • Though bizarre, it was also discreet, understated, within the bounds of the agreeably ordinary (Tomas's fascination with curiosities had nothing in common with Fellini's fascination with monsters): she was very tall, quite a bit taller than he was, and she had a delicate and very long nose in a face so unusual that it was impossible to call it attractive (everyone would have protested!†   (source)
  • Since your apartment and mobile seem to be bugged and we have reason to be discreet, I've been sent to invite you."†   (source)
  • They take care of their normal jobs and do some discreet moonlighting for us should the need or opportunity arise.†   (source)
  • Esteban Trueba would see them crossing through his house and insisted on these few conditions: that they respect his library, that they not use the children for psychic experiments, and that they be discreet, because he did not want any public scandal.†   (source)
  • Flamenco dancing had no practical application in the closed society prevailing in the capital back then, but Nicolas ran a discreet announcement in the paper offering his services as a teacher of that fiery art.†   (source)
  • As long as he was relatively discreet and did not get involved in any financial chicanery, his future would be assured.†   (source)
  • Over the past two weeks Prosecutor Gustavsson had summoned a large number of individuals to official but extremely discreet interviews.†   (source)
  • There were coachmen, storekeepers, and milkmen; later a few municipal employees and distinguished ladies made a discreet appearance, slinking along the side walls of the house to keep from being recognized.†   (source)
  • By way of a series of discreet inquiries, they managed to obtain her earthly address and arrived at her door with decks of cards impregnated with beneficent liquids, several sets of geometrical figures and mysterious tools of their own invention for unmasking fake parapsychologists, and a tray of ordinary pastries as a gift for Clara.†   (source)
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