See hide 1.
First recorded in 1700–10; back formation from secretion
1735–45; alteration of obsolete secret, verb use of secret
From French; see origin at secret
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.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
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
Her team pays attention to other stress markers, such as that they secrete mucus when biologically stressed.
From Salon ● May 13, 2025
All cells use EVs to secrete proteins, DNA and other molecules, and tumor cells are particularly active EV secreters.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 3, 2024
Maybe: they secrete chemicals the way insects do, or perhaps the movements of their eyestalks is a form of language similar to the dance of a bee.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
“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
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
Proteins secreted through this system can protect antibodies from breaking down, which strengthens immune defenses and may improve the effectiveness of oral vaccines.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 13, 2026
Released in 2010, “Tangled” is Disney’s animated take on the fairy tale “Rapunzel,” about a young princess with long blond magical hair who had been unknowingly kidnapped and secreted away in an isolated tower.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026
The very idea of a color broadcast was so implausible that Alvarez secreted a small magnet in his pocket to verify that the picture was actually produced by electrons striking a phosphor screen.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
"It starts with one male secreting a little ball of glowing mucus," Hensley said.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 30, 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
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.
