secret
Americanadjective
-
done, made, or conducted without the knowledge of others.
secret negotiations.
- Synonyms:
- covert, hidden, clandestine
-
kept from the knowledge of any but the initiated or privileged.
a secret password.
- Synonyms:
- confidential, private
-
faithful or cautious in keeping confidential matters confidential; close-mouthed; discreet.
-
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secluded, sheltered, or withdrawn.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:
- mysterious, cryptic, occult
-
(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.
-
(initial capital letter) a variable prayer in the Roman and other Latin liturgies, said inaudibly by the celebrant after the offertory and immediately before the preface.
idioms
adjective
-
kept hidden or separate from the knowledge of others
-
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
-
among the people who know a secret
Other Word Forms
- nonsecret adjective
- quasi-secret adjective
- secretly adverb
- secretness noun
- semisecret adjective
- supersecret noun
- ultrasecret adjective
Etymology
Origin of secret
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English secrette, from Old French secret, from Latin sēcrētus “hidden,” originally past participle of sēcernere “to secern ”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
No matter, many took his comments to be an inadvertent slip of the greatest secret in history.
On the day of the special episode, Amanda's family took her for a meal while secret cameras were set up across the house, with McIntyre and the team next door watching it unfold.
From BBC
"It's the drive and hunger. You want to be the best every day whether it's game or training," said Milner on the secret to his longevity.
From Barron's
Just over a month later, secrets of another element of Wasserman’s personal life burst into the open.
He secured Alfred membership in the Apostles, Cambridge’s secret intellectual society.
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.
