imperceptivelyadv.
/ˌɪmpəˈsɛptɪvli/, U.S. /ˌɪmpərˈsɛptɪvli/ 1. In an imperceptible manner or to an imperceptible degree; imperceptibly.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adverb] > imperceptibly
insensibly1584
imperceptibly1603
silently1668
imperceptively1759
1759 E. Goldney Epist. to Jews 23 in Epist. to Deists & Jews Passions which may almost imperceptively deceive you.
1839 Poughkeepsie Casket 4 Apr. 203/2 Years rolls on almost imperceptively, and the ardent hopes..of the young are not realized.
1871 D. Melville Relig. Instr. in School-board Schools 30 These [periods] would not be marked by sharp, abrupt transition;..each imperceptively would grow out of the other.
1969 Times 30 Oct. 13/3 The face muscles droop and the shoulders sag almost imperceptively.
1990 H. Lewis Question of Values ii. viii. 112 A limited number of ‘scientific’ disciplines..have either immediately or gradually, often imperceptively, transmuted into specific value systems.
2009 College Eng. 71 600 The point where order slips, imperceptively, into violence.
2. Without perceptiveness or insight; undiscerningly, unintelligently.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > absence of perception > [adverb]
unweetinglya1400
unfeltly1606
unsensibly1658
insciously1675
unconsciously1709
imperceptively1861
inconsciently1913
unconsciently1929
1861 Atlantic Monthly Sept. 265/1 Has an intelligent and learned student of Shakespeare read him so imperceptively as not to know, [etc.].
1953 New Statesman 14 Feb. 181/2 The world his [sc. Wallace Stevens] senses respond to is not that in which we ordinarily, rather imperceptively, move.
1993 Jrnl. Aesthetics & Art Crit. 51 230/1 Most such writers imperceptively deplore the way they think the world is going.
2006 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Nov. 3/2 The twenty-two-year-old [Henry] James..was also, not imperceptively, pointing to an essential difference between her [sc. E. C. Gaskill] fictions and those of her great contemporaries.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1759