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open secret
noun
- something supposedly secret but actually known quite generally.
open secret
noun
- something that is supposed to be secret but is widely known
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Word History and Origins
Origin of open secret1
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Idioms and Phrases
Something that is supposedly clandestine but is in fact widely known, as in It's an open secret that both their children are adopted . This expression originated as the title of a Spanish play by Calderón, El Secreto a Voces (“The Noisy Secret”), which was translated by Carlo Gozzi into Italian as Il pubblico secreto (1769). In English the term came into general use during the 1800s.Discover More
Example Sentences
Others shared stories of friends who suffered from bulimia in an open secret.
It was an open secret, and one that discomfited several of his brethren.
But the existence of underground markets selling tiger in Guangdong has long been an open secret.
It is an open secret (being open is part of the strategy) that the Israeli military has in excess of a hundred nuclear warheads.
The women say, however, that “special time” with Saraswati was an open secret.
It is the open secret of the universe, and the Bible gives us the key to it.
The causes of the event were an open secret to his friends and acquaintances.
But his attentions never gave rise to jealousy; for it was an open secret in the servants' hall that he loved his mistress.
The matter is an open secret; all Rome is discussing the decrees from the Palatine against the Nazarenes.
His love of Beatrice de Bardi was an open secret—all Florence knew of it.
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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.
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