In a quiet manner, without making sound or noise. Can also mean without speaking or expressing thoughts aloud, or in a subtle, unnoticed way.
From Latin silentium meaning 'stillness, quiet', from silere 'to be quiet'. The English form developed through Old French, with the adverbial '-ly' suffix added to create the manner of action.
Silence is so fundamental to human experience that we've created this adverb to describe countless ways of being quiet - from physical soundlessness to emotional restraint to secret actions. The word captures how silence can be both absence and presence, emptiness and fullness.
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