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
In a year that’s already given us one superlative case of adult peekaboo — Steven Soderbergh’s “Black Bag” — “Relay” proves there’s still more room for smart, punchy cloak-and-dagger options.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 23, 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 not cloak-and-dagger stuff,” he told the newspaper in 1985.
From New York Times • Feb. 1, 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.
