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Synonyms

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.

secret agent British  

noun

  1. a person employed in espionage

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of secret agent

First recorded in 1830–40

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.

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 • Nov. 8, 2025

Then in 1990 he got attention for his turn as the hard-nosed secret agent handling Anne Parillaud's female assassin Nikita, in Besson's hit film of the same name.

From Barron's • Oct. 31, 2025

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.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 25, 2025

Rocha was arrested in December on charges he worked as a secret agent of Cuba stretching back to the 1970s.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 29, 2024

“Probably not, right? We were as stealthy as secret agent spies.”

From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller

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.