secret admirer
Americannoun
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a person who is romantically attracted to someone else but shows it only in a way that does not reveal their own identity, as by sending anonymous gifts or messages.
I found an unsigned valentine on my desk from a secret admirer.
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a person who esteems or has a high opinion of someone or something but hides this fact from others.
Only after his death, when his diaries were discovered, did we learn that he was a secret admirer of opera.
Etymology
Origin of secret admirer
First recorded in 1600–10
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.
Treat broccoli like a beautiful bouquet of flowers sent from a secret admirer.
From Salon • Mar. 4, 2022
"It was like a secret admirer type thing," Petillo told Fox News.
From Fox News • Dec. 22, 2021
“Days of Our Lives’” Alison Sweeney tries to track down a secret admirer in the new TV movie “Open by Christmas.”
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 7, 2021
When Jonathan Schmitz walked on to the set of one of America’s most popular daytime TV shows, he knew he was about to meet his secret admirer.
From The Guardian • May 12, 2018
You're my first secret admirer and I don’t know all the protocol, but I’m hoping you’ll make an exception!
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
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.
