sneaking
/ˈsniːkɪŋ
/adjective [attributive]
1(Of a feeling) persistent in one’s mind but reluctantly held or not fully recognized: I’ve a sneaking suspicion they’ll do well...
- I have a sneaking feeling that I've written about this before, but bear with me as my abandonment of the railway has opened up whole new vistas to me.
- I have this sneaking feeling that I might not agree with many of the opinions of this man on - say - pretty much anything ever.
- Yet I have a sneaking feeling that neither of them will return from Athens as ‘the world's fastest man’.
Synonyms
secret, private, hidden, concealed, innermost, inward, unexpressed, unvoiced, undisclosed, undeclared, undivulged, unconfessed, unavowed
niggling, nagging, lurking, insidious, lingering, gnawing, unrelenting, slight but persistent, worrying, concerning
2 informal Furtive and contemptible: an unpleasant, sneaking habit
Derivatives
sneakingly
- I'm always sneakingly envious of the massive precision of combinatory languages such as German or Japanese, that generate words for concepts such as ‘the rush of yearning caused by seeing the moon unexpectedly through trees’.
- A self-confessed ‘petrol-head’, his smug approach may make him an irritation but perhaps deep down much of the west of Scotland sneakingly admires the man.
- I'm going for drinks with a couple of girl friends tomorrow night, and then on Saturday there's the rugby which I sneakingly hope New Zealand will win.
- practical
- practical activity
- practical attitude
- practical-based
- practical criticism
- practicalise
- practicalism
- practicalist
- practicality
- practicalization
- practicalize
- practical joke
- practical joker
- practically
- practically minded
- practical nurse
- practical nursing
- practical politician
- practical politics
- practical theology
- practicant
- practice
- practiceable
- practice court
- practice curve