adj. 1 concealed, hidden, private, covert, shrouded, clandestine; confidential, covert, quiet, under cover, secretive, unpublishable, unpublished, Colloq hush-hush There is a secret passageway leading from the cave to the cove Keep secret what I shall tell you. She revealed to me her most secret desires. 2 cryptic, private, arcane, mysterious, incomprehensible, esoteric, recondite, abstruse; cryptographic, encrypted, encoded We used to communicate by secret code Did you receive my secret message?
n. 3 private or confidential matter or affair, mystery If I tell you my secret will you tell me yours? 4 in secret privately, confidentially, secretly, on the q.t. or Q.T.; surreptitiously, under cover, by stealth, stealthily, furtively, quietly, on the sly, clandestinely The office manager told me in secret that John was going to resign They see one another in secret.