secret agent

American  

noun

1. an agent of a secret service.

2. (loosely) a person employed to collect the military secrets of one country and relay them to another, especially a person living in a foreign country while so working for their own nation; spy.

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secret agent British  

noun

1. a person employed in espionage

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Etymology

Origin of secret agent

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

“It could be anything. Payment for some secret agent, or who knows? We at least have to tell the police.”

From Literature

Some were also destroyed by Israeli secret agents on the ground, people familiar with the operation said.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Otherwise a bunch of secret agents would have scooped you up a while ago. He’s making sure nobody else finds out about you.”

From Literature

Channeling the fictional 1980s secret agent MacGyver, he unwound the paper clip and stuck it in his TV’s coaxial port to get a signal.

From The Wall Street Journal

The thirty-five-year-old New Yorker was a librarian by day—and a longtime secret agent for the Soviet Union.

From Literature

Related Words

• informer
• intelligence agent
• operative
• spy
• undercover agent