secrecy
Americannoun
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secrecies
plural
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the state or condition of being secret, hidden, or concealed.
a meeting held in secrecy.
- Synonyms:
- covertness, stealth, privacy, confidentiality
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the state of being apart from other people; privacy; seclusion.
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ability to keep a secret.
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the habit or characteristic of being secretive; reticence.
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Archaic. something that is secret or mysterious.
the secrecies of nature.
noun
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the state or quality of being secret
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the state of keeping something secret
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the ability or tendency to keep things secret
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of secrecy
1375–1425; obsolete secre (< Middle French secré secret ) + -cy; replacing late Middle English secretee, equivalent to secre + -tee -ty 2
Explanation
Secrecy is a word for a state or condition where things are concealed or hidden. CIA agents and conspirators know a lot about secrecy. Since a secret is something some people don't know, secrecy is all about keeping things private or concealed. Being a spy involves a lot of secrecy. When information is important or sensitive, people try to create secrecy. Also, you can say secrecy is a quality people have, like courage. Someone who doesn't gossip has a good sense of secrecy. When all lips are sealed, there's secrecy.
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.
See Examples For:
But that still left space for Kim to expand the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile program under a shroud of secrecy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Greystone Mansion carried an air of secrecy in itself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Despite their elaborate efforts at secrecy and unaccountability, Flock works through government contracts.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
Joe Biden's 2023 visit to Ukraine was also shrouded in strict secrecy during a long journey by plane and train, though he was accompanied by a reporter and photographer.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
After swearing Abdulrahman to secrecy, Ahmad brought him up to the roof and showed him a cage he had built from scrap wood and chicken wire.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
Once the eye gets used to the quirks and secrecies of his inimitable shorthand, it discovers how deeply regional an artist he was.
From Time Magazine Archive
She saw his face cloud, she was well aware of his dislike of secrecies, but she was too much afraid that, somehow, at the last moment an insuperable obstacle would bar the way.
From The Truants by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason
Sir Denis had his secrecies about the Tree, gifts which had to go on at the last moment and to be placed there by himself.
From Mary Gray by Katharine Tynan
Had they not the same passions, the same inclinations in the secrecies of their souls?
From Ancestors A Novel by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
Surely it would carry him on, away from the old reserves, from the secrecies which had held him too long, from the darkness in which he had labored.
From The Way of Ambition by J. H. Gardner Soper
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.
