cloak-and-dagger

[ klohk-uhn-dag-er ]
See synonyms for cloak-and-dagger on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. pertaining to, characteristic of, or dealing in espionage or intrigue, especially of a romantic or dramatic kind.

Origin of cloak-and-dagger

1
First recorded in 1835–45

Words Nearby cloak-and-dagger

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cloak-and-dagger in a sentence

  • It has been said of Time, earlier in these pages, the cloak-and-dagger sort he is, that stalks and pounces.

    This Freedom | A. S. M. Hutchinson
  • He climbed out, standing alongside the bed in his shorts, wondering at the Colonel's cloak-and-dagger approach.

    First on the Moon | Jeff Sutton
  • "And Cardon's gone completely cloak-and-dagger-happy," she continued.

    Null-ABC | Henry Beam Piper and John Joseph McGuire
  • Joe said politely: “I heard there was cloak-and-dagger stuff going on.”

    Space Platform | Murray Leinster

British Dictionary definitions for cloak-and-dagger

cloak-and-dagger

noun
  1. (modifier) characteristic of or concerned with intrigue and espionage

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012