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Synonyms

in secret

Idioms  

  1. Unknown to others, privately. For example, They met in secret, or, as Shakespeare put it in Love's Labour's Lost (5:2): “One word in secret.” [Second half of 1400s]

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.

In secret, Zo managed to collect the resistance stories of women who had served in the war.

From BBC • Aug. 3, 2024

In secret court filings and a hearing held behind closed doors earlier this month, people familiar with the matter said, prosecutors sought to show Chief U.S.

From Washington Post • Mar. 17, 2023

In secret, many East Germans wrote anonymous dispatches to the BBC, many of them emotional and heartbreaking, which are read out on its German-language service every Friday evening from the early 1950s.

From The Guardian • Sep. 30, 2019

In secret midnight meetings, Stanton told Wilson of his heroic efforts to save the republic from its treacherous chief executive.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 12, 2018

"In secret, I had the gardener grow a rare moonflower. It is the finest ever seen. You can bring that instead."

From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin

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.