cloak-and-dagger
Americanadjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of cloak-and-dagger
First recorded in 1835–45
Vocabulary lists containing cloak-and-dagger
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.
The cloak-and-dagger operation might seem excessive, but there are a few billion reasons for the paranoia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 18, 2025
It involved allegations of financial impropriety at the top of the Vatican, cloak-and-dagger activity of the kind that has often characterised the secretive world of the Holy See.
From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2023
“It’s just pathetic that we’re in this stage where we’re having cloak-and-dagger conversations about deleted data,” Dr. Holmes said.
From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2023
The first tenet is the reason my sister-in-law was being so cloak-and-dagger; she was trying to respect the taboo against spreading bad news.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 24, 2023
We played a cloak-and-dagger game, passing notes in books and such.
From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals
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.
