I. ˈsēkrə̇t, usu -ə̇d.+V adjective
( sometimes -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin secretus, past participle of secernere to separate, distinguish, from sed-, se- apart (from sed, se without) + cernere to sift — more at idiot , certain
1.
a. : kept from knowledge or view : concealed , hidden
advised him, against his own judgment, to keep his mission secret for a time — W.C.Ford
the baronage had plunged almost to a man into secret conspiracies — J.R.Green
b. : marked by the habit of discretion or faithful concealment : loyal to a confidence : trustworthy in preserving secrecy : confidential , closemouthed , reticent
c. : working with hidden aims or methods : undercover
a secret agent
d. : unacknowledged , unavowed , undeclared
a secret enemy
a secret bride
2. : remote from human frequentation or notice : retired , secluded
secret harbors — R.W.Hatch
3. : known or felt inwardly without avowal
secret alarm
secret exultation
: inmost
his secret soul
4.
a. : revealed only to the initiated : esoteric , mystic
the secret learning of the cabalists
b. : lying beyond ordinary comprehension : relating to or dealing with mysteries or occult matters : abstruse , recondite
you secret , black, and midnight hags — Shakespeare
5. : done or undertaken with evident purpose of concealment
we must stand together … in secret alliance — Jack London
6. : genital
secret parts
7. : constructed so as to elude observation or detection
a secret panel
a secret passage
or to conceal means or mechanics
secret nailing
a secret dovetail
8. : invisible , unseen
9. : classified below top secret but above confidential in a scale rating the value of information to a nation's security — compare classification 1f
Synonyms:
convert , clandestine , stealthy , surreptitious , furtive , underhand , underhanded : secret is a general term applicable to anything hidden, concealed, known, or known about by a limited few.
seized a lamp … and hurried towards the secret passage — Horace Walpole
convert is the antonym of overt or open; it stresses the fact of being concealed or veiled
some form of coercion, overt or covert — John Dewey
the meaning of the covert addresses of a villain — W.M.Thackeray
clandestine refers to a situation obtaining, a practice adhered to, a thing made or used in wary or timorous secrecy, often against usage, sanction, or authority
she proposed a clandestine marriage, but he swore that when afterwards detected, it would cause his dismissal — Anthony Trollope
hunted by the gestapo for his anti-Nazi pamphlets and clandestine magazine La Pensée Libre — Time
stealthy may suggest slow, wary, sly avoidance of being observed as one proceeds in doing something evil, sinister, or reprehensible
a valet, of stealthy step, thence conducted me, in silence, through many dark and intricate passages — E.A.Poe
comparable to … the suffocation of the York princes in the Tower. I'll admit the setting is consonant with that sort of stealthy, romantic crime — W.H.Wright
surreptitious refers to actions done, emotions cherished, things held or enjoyed secretly, often with opportune cleverness, against usage or authority
enjoying a surreptitious cigarette — P.G.Wodehouse
over the paling of the garden we might obtain an oblique and surreptitious view — Henry James †1916
furtive implies sly, wary, slinking caution to escape being perceived, recognized, or apprehended
asked the man, in a furtive frightened way — Charles Dickens
furtive shortcuts across the fields of persons who might easily have bawled at me if they had caught sight of me — Siegfried Sassoon
underhand and underhanded stress dishonest deception rather than merely the fact of secrecy in itself
whatever scrape he may have been in, I'll warrant there was nothing mean or underhanded in his share of it … he hasn't a tricky or a dishonest bone in his body — C.B.Nordhoff & J.N.Hall
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French secret, from Latin secretum, from neuter of secretus, past participle of secernere to separate, distinguish — more at secret I
1.
a. : something kept hidden : an unexplained or inscrutable process or fact (as an operation of God or of nature) : mystery
an intimation of the secret of mysticism — Havelock Ellis
b. : something kept from the knowledge of others, concealed as one's private knowledge, or shared only confidentially with a few persons : information entrusted to one in confidence
a man who knew the secrets of one's innermost soul — H.J.Laski
— see trade secret
c. : a method, formula, or process used in an art or a manufacturing operation and divulged only to those of one's own company or craft
secrets long cherished by monkish wine makers
d. secrets plural : the practices or knowledge making up the shared discipline or culture of an esoteric society
the secrets of the ancient Essenes
2.
[Medieval Latin secreta, from Latin, feminine of secretus, past participle of secernere ]
: a prayer said in a low or inaudible voice by the celebrant just before the preface in the mass
3. : something taken to be a specific or key to some desired end
called discreet and steady use of whiskey the secret of his living to the age of a hundred
4. secrets plural : part 1d(3)
5. : a coat of mail worn concealed under one's clothing
•
- in secret
III. adverb
Etymology: secret (I)
archaic : secretly
IV. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: secret (I)
obsolete : secrete II