done, made, or conducted without the knowledge of others: secret negotiations.
kept from the knowledge of any but the initiated or privileged: a secret password.
faithful or cautious in keeping confidential matters confidential; close-mouthed; reticent.
designed or working to escape notice, knowledge, or observation: a secret drawer; the secret police.
secluded, sheltered, or withdrawn: a secret hiding place.
beyond ordinary human understanding; esoteric.
(of information, a document, etc.)
bearing the classification secret.
limited to persons authorized to use information documents, etc., so classified.
noun
something that is or is kept secret, hidden, or concealed.
a mystery: the secrets of nature.
a reason or explanation not immediately or generally apparent.
a method, formula, plan, etc., known only to the initiated or the few: the secret of happiness; a trade secret.
a classification assigned to information, a document, etc., considered less vital to security than top-secret but more vital than confidential, and limiting its use to persons who have been cleared, as by various government agencies, as trustworthy to handle such material.Compare classification (def. 5).
(initial capital letter)Liturgy. a variable prayer in the Roman and other Latin liturgies, said inaudibly by the celebrant after the offertory and immediately before the preface.
Idioms for secret
in secret, unknown to others; in private; secretly: A resistance movement was already being organized in secret.
Origin of secret
1350–1400; Middle English secrette<Old French secret<Latin sēcrētus hidden, originally past participle of sēcernere to secern
It could require a whole new breakthrough, or the secret ingredient may already be out there, waiting in a stack of old research papers.
A New Algorithm for Graph Crossings, Hiding in Plain Sight|Stephanie DeMarco|September 15, 2020|Quanta Magazine
Part of the beauty of the Tabard Inn is that everyone thinks it’s their little secret, their special spot.
We owe it to places like the Tabard Inn|Brock Thompson|September 11, 2020|Washington Blade
According to Forbes, Americans are inundated with 4,000 to 10,000 every single day, and it’s no secret that they start to filter them out eventually.
Five reasons why SEO should be prioritized over paid media campaigns|Ryan Gould|September 4, 2020|Search Engine Watch
Many of the alleged secrets were not revealed, but Mak is believed to have passed intelligence related to quieting submarine propulsion to avoid detection.
A brief history of US-China espionage entanglements|Konstantin Kakaes|September 3, 2020|MIT Technology Review
It’s no secret that our infrastructure needs a major overhaul.
Uncharted Power’s Jessica O. Matthews has a plan to revive America’s crumbling infrastructure|Brooke Henderson|August 23, 2020|Fortune
In secret, before the referendum, the council went ahead and fluoridated the water anyway.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
The death toll, which experts believe has been significantly undercut by secret burials, stands at 7,905.
The Race for the Ebola Vaccine|Abby Haglage|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Never mind the huge buildup of clandestine operatives and secret warriors since 9/11.
ISIS Fight Has a Spy Shortage, Intel Chair Says|Kimberly Dozier|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Afraid the Korean secret police would not believe his kidnapping story, Shin settled in Hollywood.
Propaganda, Protest, and Poisonous Vipers: The Cinema War in Korea|Rich Goldstein|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Ziad and Sabrine dated in secret during their time at university.
A Sunni-Shia Love Story Imperiled by al Qaeda|Ruth Michaelson|December 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Yet by secret intuition each of them divined something of what was in the heart of the other.
Darkness and Dawn|Frederic W. Farrar
She listens, puzzled; perhaps a little frightened to be so much of a secret.
Browning's Heroines|Ethel Colburn Mayne
He thought much of eternity, and was frequent in secret prayer.
Sermons of Christmas Evans|Joseph Cross
It is not here, but in the pages of his Journal for ten years before, that we must search for the secret of d'Argenson's thought.
The Marquis D'Argenson: A Study in Criticism|Arthur Ogle
Whatever his causes of complaint, they were of too delicate and secret a nature for seconds, bullets, and newspaper paragraphs!
Alice, or The Mysteries, Complete|Edward Bulwer-Lytton
British Dictionary definitions for secret
secret
/ (ˈsiːkrɪt) /
adjective
kept hidden or separate from the knowledge of othersRelated adjective: cryptic
known only to initiatesa secret password
hidden from general view or usea secret garden
able or tending to keep things private or to oneself
operating without the knowledge of outsidersa secret society
outside the normal range of knowledge
noun
something kept or to be kept hidden
something unrevealed; mystery
an underlying explanation, reason, etc, that is not apparentthe secret of success
a method, plan, etc, known only to initiates
liturgya variable prayer, part of the Mass, said by the celebrant after the offertory and before the preface
in the secretamong the people who know a secret
Derived forms of secret
secretly, adverb
Word Origin for secret
C14: via Old French from Latin sēcrētus concealed, from sēcernere to sift; see secern