secrete
verb (used with object)
to discharge, generate, or release by the process of secretion.
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secreter.
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
These creatures, more commonly known as violet snails, are distinguished by their striking purple shell and the delicate bubble raft they secrete to stay afloat in the open ocean.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
Beavers were hunted to extinction in Britain 400 years ago for their meat, furry water-resistant pelts and a substance they secrete called castoreum - used in food, medicine and perfume.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2025
Her team pays attention to other stress markers, such as that they secrete mucus when biologically stressed.
From Salon ● May 13, 2025
“It’s true. Your glands will secrete a cocoon.”
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
“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
We had only one battered paperback copy of “Brown Face, Big Master,” and though the book was secreted away, I found it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026
The researchers then narrowed the search to genes that produce proteins secreted outside the cell, a common feature of hormones, and that contained at least four possible cleavage sites.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
Anti-obesity treatments mimic a hormone secreted by the intestines, GLP-1.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Within a year after moving in, the couple discovered the original house plans that had been secreted away.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
That rocky, misty summit, secreted in the clouds, was far more thrillingly awful and sublime than the crater of a volcano spouting fire.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
"Microglia filled up with lipids become hyperinflammatory and start secreting things that are not good for the brain," Holtzman said.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 22, 2023
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
Some ancient redesigning of the house had left a crawl space in that corner and we’d been secreting jewelry, silver coins, and other valuables there since the start of the occupation.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
