(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
If something is ~, it is known about by only a small number of people, and is not told or shown to anyone else.
Soldiers have been training at a ~ location...
The police have been trying to keep the documents ~.
ADJ: ADJ n, v n ADJ, v-link ADJ
see also top ~
~ly
He wore a hidden microphone to ~ly tape-record conversations.
ADV: ADV with v, ADV adj/n
2.
A ~ is a fact that is known by only a small number of people, and is not told to anyone else.
I think he enjoyed keeping our love a ~...
N-COUNT
3.
If you say that a particular way of doing things is the ~ of achieving something, you mean that it is the best or only way to achieve it.
The ~ of success is honesty and fair dealing...
N-SING: the N, oft the N of n
4.
Something’s ~s are the things about it which have never been fully explained.
We have an opportunity now to really unlock the ~s of the universe...
N-COUNT: usu pl, oft with poss
5.
If you do something in ~, you do it without anyone else knowing.
Dan found out that I had been meeting my ex-boyfriend in ~.
PHRASE: PHR after v
6.
If you say that someone can keep a ~, you mean that they can be trusted not to tell other people a ~ that you have told them.
Tom was utterly indiscreet, and could never keep a ~.
PHRASE: V inflects
7.
If you make no ~ of something, you tell others about it openly and clearly.
His wife made no ~ of her hatred for the formal occasions...
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR of n