secrete
verb (used with object)
to discharge, generate, or release by the process of secretion.
Showing results for secrete.
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secreting.
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:
Who would have thought serums infused with snail mucin - the sticky substance they secrete - would become a part of skincare routines around the world?
From BBC ● Jan. 2, 2026
Her team pays attention to other stress markers, such as that they secrete mucus when biologically stressed.
From Salon ● May 13, 2025
Hairs covering the stems, leaves and flowers have glands that secrete a sticky substance containing prenylated phenols, which cause an itchy rash, according to Lewis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2025
Other recent work by Dr. Lyden and colleagues has shown that cancer cells can secrete EV-packaged proteins and fatty acids that make the liver more hospitable for metastatic tumor development.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 3, 2024
Bono had, I ascertained, connived to secrete them when we had removed to this house from the town; having no use for them upon his exile, he had left them for me.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
“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
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
It mimics a hormone secreted alongside insulin that signals fullness and slows gastric emptying.
From Barron's ● Apr. 27, 2026
The team then narrowed their focus to proteins that are secreted outside cells, a key feature of hormones, and that contain multiple potential cleavage points.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 12, 2026
They were whispering the whole afternoon and spending time secreted off in the barn.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
"Normally, microglia are looking for things like viruses or injury and secreting substances that block off the damage," she said.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 19, 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
Their enemies are now dead so there is no need for the mites to spend their energy in secreting protective webbing.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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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.
