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.
By evening’s end, a frazzled Ventura senior citizen — during a cloak-and-dagger assignation — had uttered a secret code to a person who claimed to be law enforcement, then handed him $25,000.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
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
But maintaining that electrical undercurrent in person was critical; for all the show’s cloak-and-dagger thrills, their characters’ relationship is the beating pulse of the series.
From New York Times ● Feb. 25, 2023
Now he put his cloak-and-dagger skills to work at the Three Lions, where a state-of-the-art security system and the hotel’s unique triangular shape allowed him to keep a constant eye on anyone approaching the building.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
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.
