secret agent

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.

secret agent

noun

1. a person employed in espionage

Word History and Origins

Origin of secret agent¹

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

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.

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

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A screenwriter hasn’t yet been named and no announcement has been made as to who will take over playing the famed British secret agent.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

A Highland house where "troublesome" secret agents were kept busy during World War Two has been put up for sale.

Read more on BBC

An email address associated with him includes the 007 sobriquet of the world's most famous secret agent.

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Related Words

• informer 
• intelligence agent www.thesaurus.com
• operative 
• spy 
• undercover agent www.thesaurus.com