surreptitious
Americanadjective
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obtained, done, made, etc., by stealth; secret or unauthorized; clandestine.
a surreptitious glance.
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acting in a stealthy way.
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obtained by subreption; subreptitious.
adjective
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done, acquired, etc, in secret or by improper means
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operating by stealth
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characterized by fraud or misrepresentation of the truth
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of surreptitious
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin surreptīcius “stolen, clandestine,” equivalent to surrept(us), past participle of surripere “to steal,” ( sur- sur- 2 + rep-, combining form of rapere “to snatch, plunder” ( see rape 1) + -tus past participle suffix) + -īcius adjective suffix ( see -itious)
Explanation
When someone behaves in a surreptitious way, they're being secretive. They're doing something that they don't want to be seen doing. While surreptitious means secret, it has the added sense of "sneaky" or "hidden." During the Jewish Passover meal of Seder, an adult will surreptitiously place a piece of matzoh somewhere in the house for the children to hunt for later in the meal. You'll see surreptitious applied mostly to actions, rather than to things or ideas. We do things surreptitiously. The members of the secret society hold surreptitious meetings because, well, they're a secret society. I was very surreptitious in how I organized the surprise party: she never knew!
Vocabulary lists containing surreptitious
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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.
A surreptitious airport catering truck secretly shuttled Trump to a waiting military plane, which flew him out instead.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
Just before 7 a.m., a Benin intelligence operative took surreptitious video of five rebel armored vehicles and four pickups leaving QRF headquarters, hazard lights flashing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
A surreptitious change of bank details does not bode well for your mother’s estate planning.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 13, 2026
She alleges the Mail tapped her landlines and placed "surreptitious mics on my home windows" in an effort to get stories.
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2026
In a surreptitious meeting with Pizarro, Thupa Wallpa proclaimed that he was Washkar’s legitimate heir.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
