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View synonyms for furtive

furtive

[ fur-tiv ]

adjective

  1. taken, done, used, etc., surreptitiously or by stealth; secret:

    a furtive glance.

    Synonyms: covert, clandestine

  2. a furtive manner.

    Synonyms: cunning, crafty, underhanded



furtive

/ ˈfɜːtɪv /

adjective

  1. characterized by stealth; sly and secretive


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Derived Forms

  • ˈfurtively, adverb
  • ˈfurtiveness, noun

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Other Words From

  • fur·tive·ly adverb
  • fur·tive·ness noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of furtive1

First recorded in 1480–90; from Latin furtīvus, equivalent to furt(um) “theft” (compare fūr “thief”) + -īvus -ive

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Word History and Origins

Origin of furtive1

C15: from Latin furtīvus stolen, clandestine, from furtum a theft, from fūr a thief; related to Greek phōr thief

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Example Sentences

Pig [growling sotto voce behind his hand, mock-furtive as a Disneyland Foxy Loxy]: Take 35 percent off the top and split!

He fancied himself a Marxist, lived in rooming houses under aliases and was a furtive, nasty man.

Here is real, unmistakable nastiness of a fetid, furtive kind, whispered in corners after a cautious glance over the shoulder.

The handwriting clearly belonged to an unstable, conniving, furtive, shallow creep.

And it is Mark and Scott—not “Chad and Ted”—who partake of cigarettes and “furtive man-on-man action.”

Aristide suddenly bethought him of the furtive masquer of the night before.

Garnache had been all eyes for some furtive sign, some whispered word; but he had surprised neither.

The first evening we went to it, and he, unobserved, made furtive sketches of the most prominent people and the prettiest girls.

Dorothy again caught the furtive glance of the woman's evil eyes, and recoiled from it as if she had trodden upon a snake.

Twice had Le Pontois taken furtive glances at the stranger whose lined brow was so extraordinarily familiar.

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tortuous

[tawr-choo-uhs ]

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furthestfurtively