secret Santa

British

noun

1. a system whereby each member of a group chooses at random another member of the group for whom to buy a Christmas present at an agreed cost, so that each member buys one present and receives one present
2. a person chosen in this way to buy another person's Christmas present

"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

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.

The worst gifts aren’t the ones that miss; they are the ones that reveal no attempt at all—generic, last-minute, indistinguishable from what you would give a coworker in an office Secret Santa.

From The Wall Street Journal

‘My Secret Santa’ starring Alexandra Breckenridge is the latest holiday film to be released on the streamer, which has several new offerings and recent classics worth revisiting.

From Los Angeles Times

It is, after all, the season for Secret Santa.

From The Wall Street Journal

When Secret Santa swaps go terribly wrong.

From MarketWatch

Dear reader, “My Secret Santa” took me by surprise.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023