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.
This time, however, President Santiago Peña Palacios will save Lai’s team the trouble of logistical cloak-and-dagger.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 2026
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’s a pale substitute for the delicious tension inherent to deadly cloak-and-dagger exploits.
From Salon ● Apr. 22, 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
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.
