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secret
[ see-krit ]
adjective
- done, made, or conducted without the knowledge of others:
secret negotiations.
Synonyms: , ,
Antonyms: ,
- kept from the knowledge of any but the initiated or privileged:
a secret password.
Synonyms: ,
- faithful or cautious in keeping confidential matters confidential; close-mouthed; discreet.
Synonyms: , ,
- designed or working to escape notice, knowledge, or observation: the secret police.
a secret drawer;
the secret police.
- secluded, sheltered, or withdrawn:
a secret hiding place.
- beyond ordinary human understanding; esoteric.
Synonyms: , ,
- (of information, a document, etc.)
- bearing the classification secret.
- limited to persons authorized to use information documents, etc., so classified.
noun
- something that is or is kept secret, hidden, or concealed.
- a mystery:
the secrets of nature.
- a reason or explanation not immediately or generally apparent.
- a method, formula, plan, etc., known only to the initiated or the few: a trade secret.
the secret of happiness;
a trade secret.
- a classification assigned to information, a document, etc., considered less vital to security than top-secret but more vital than confidential, and limiting its use to persons who have been cleared, as by various government agencies, as trustworthy to handle such material. Compare classification ( def 5 ).
- (initial capital letter) Liturgy. a variable prayer in the Roman and other Latin liturgies, said inaudibly by the celebrant after the offertory and immediately before the preface.
secret
/ ˈːɪ /
adjective
- kept hidden or separate from the knowledge of others cryptic
- known only to initiates
a secret password
- hidden from general view or use
a secret garden
- able or tending to keep things private or to oneself
- operating without the knowledge of outsiders
a secret society
- outside the normal range of knowledge
noun
- something kept or to be kept hidden
- something unrevealed; mystery
- an underlying explanation, reason, etc, that is not apparent
the secret of success
- a method, plan, etc, known only to initiates
- liturgy a variable prayer, part of the Mass, said by the celebrant after the offertory and before the preface
- in the secretamong the people who know a secret
Derived Forms
- ˈٱ, adverb
Other Word Forms
- ·· adverb
- ··Ա noun
- ԴDz·· adjective noun
- ܲ·-· adjective
- ··· adjective
- ··· noun
- ܱ·ٰ·· adjective
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of secret1
Idioms and Phrases
- in secret, unknown to others; in private; secretly:
A resistance movement was already being organized in secret.
More idioms and phrases containing secret
see in secret ; open secret .Example Sentences
FBI agent Richard Miller acknowledged his secret dealings with the Soviets, but claimed he did so to infiltrate Soviet intelligence and redeem his career.
is the secret to the success of Fox’s “Empire”? The music?
In contrast to Nixon's secret planning, Trump has been boasting about how he would retaliate against his enemies since his first presidential campaign.
It’s not exactly secret, but it’s abstruse enough that they hope most people, who aren’t fully conversant with the complexities of the program, won’t get the drift.
“The press,” Black explained, “was protected so that it could bear the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.”
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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