secrete
verb (used with object)
to discharge, generate, or release by the process of secretion.
Showing results for secrete.
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secreted.
secrete
1 American
[si-kreet]
/ sɪˈkrit /
verb (used with object)
secreted,
secreting
secrete
2
American
[si-kreet]
/ sɪˈkrit /
verb (used with object)
secreted,
secreting
secrète
3
American
[suh-kret]
/ səˈkrɛt /
noun
Armor.
secrete
1
British
/ sɪˈkriːt /
verb
secrete
2
British
/ sɪˈkriːt /
verb
secrete
Scientific
/ sĭ-krēt′ /
Synonym Usage
See hide 1.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of secrete1
First recorded in 1700–10; back formation from secretion
Origin of secrete2
1735–45; alteration of obsolete secret, verb use of secret
Origin of secrète3
From French; see origin at secret
Explanation
Secrete is all about secrets. It means both "to hide" and "to release." When you squeeze a lemon, it secretes juice. When you stuff your money in a mattress, you secrete it there. It's easy to remember that secrete's all about secrets when you see the word secret inside secrete. Imagine the first person who squeezed a lemon and secreted the juice. Probably felt like he'd discovered a secret stash of citrus goodness. If he was greedy, maybe he gathered all the lemons he could find and secreted them away in a box so no one else would learn the secret of the juice-secretion.
Vocabulary lists containing secrete
Animal Farm
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A Single Shard
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The Pigman
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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.
See Examples For:
"They remain metabolically active and have an inflammatory program causing them to secrete inflammatory molecules."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
Species known as Anthony's poison arrow frog and the Phantasmal poison frog are among those that secrete the toxin onto their skin.
From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2026
"Many of the cyst-lining cells actually make growth factors and they secrete them into the cyst fluid," he explained.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 19, 2025
Her team pays attention to other stress markers, such as that they secrete mucus when biologically stressed.
From Salon ● May 13, 2025
Tufts of feathers sprout from the chicken’s skull, and its feet secrete a sticky liquid.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Prieur wrote in her butt-covering memoir Agent secrète, published in 1995.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2025
The novel — “La plus secrète mémoire des hommes” in French — was praised nearly universally, with Le Monde calling it “a great book.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 22, 2022
Anti-obesity treatments mimic a hormone secreted by the intestines, GLP-1.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
I, however, wandered around the block onto a nondescript residential street seeking out a building with a secreted Ftarri sign.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2025
The small battery secreted inside IXI's autofocus frames should last for two days, says Mr Eiden, adding that it's possible to recharge the specs overnight while the wearer is asleep.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2025
The team also identified several genes that help regulate EV-DNA packaging, and found that when one of these, APAF1, was absent, the amount of EV-DNA secreted by tumor cells was sharply reduced.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 3, 2024
He was within calling distance of shrews secreted a short distance away, as they were of their neighbors farther along.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
"Our findings indicate that ERRγ is responsible for regulating the differentiation and maturation of these acid secreting PCs."
From Science Daily ● May 10, 2024
The researchers isolated vSSCs from people undergoing spinal surgery and found that human vSSCs secreting MFGE8 were more likely to interact with cancer cells than vSSCs that were not secreting the protein.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 14, 2023
He adds that this is the first record of land-dwelling invertebrates producing and secreting this particular neurotoxin.
From National Geographic ● Aug. 4, 2023
The bacteria works by secreting a small molecule, known as harmane, which inhibits the early stages of the malaria parasite growing in the mosquito's gut.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2023
When it was his move, he pulled the visor way down and often rested his chin on his chest, almost as if he were a poker player secreting his cards.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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.
