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secretly

 - 3 dictionary results

se⋅cret

  [see-krit]
–adjective
1. done, made, or conducted without the knowledge of others: secret negotiations.
2. kept from the knowledge of any but the initiated or privileged: a secret password.
3. faithful or cautious in keeping confidential matters confidential; close-mouthed; reticent.
4. designed or working to escape notice, knowledge, or observation: a secret drawer; the secret police.
5. secluded, sheltered, or withdrawn: a secret hiding place.
6. beyond ordinary human understanding; esoteric.
7. (of information, a document, etc.)
a. bearing the classification secret.
b. limited to persons authorized to use information documents, etc., so classified.
–noun
8. something that is or is kept secret, hidden, or concealed.
9. a mystery: the secrets of nature.
10. a reason or explanation not immediately or generally apparent.
11. a method, formula, plan, etc., known only to the initiated or the few: the secret of happiness; a trade secret.
12. 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).
13. (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.
—Idiom
14. in secret, unknown to others; in private; secretly: A resistance movement was already being organized in secret.
Use secretly in a Sentence
Origin:
1350–1400; ME secrette < OF secret < L sēcrētus hidden, orig. ptp. of sēcernere to secern

Related forms:
se⋅cret⋅ly, adverb
se⋅cret⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. clandestine, hidden, concealed, covert. 1, 2. private, confidential. 3. secretive. 6. occult, obscure, mysterious.

Antonyms:
1. open, manifest.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To secretly
se·cret   (sē'krĭt)   
adj.  

  1. Kept hidden from knowledge or view; concealed.

  2. Dependably discreet.

  3. Operating in a hidden or confidential manner: a secret agent.

  4. Not expressed; inward: their secret thoughts.

  5. Not frequented; secluded: wandered about the secret byways of Paris.

  6. Known or shared only by the initiated: secret rites.

  7. Beyond ordinary understanding; mysterious.

  8. Containing information, the unauthorized disclosure of which poses a grave threat to national security.

n.  

  1. Something kept hidden from others or known only to oneself or to a few.

  2. Something that remains beyond understanding or explanation; a mystery.

  3. A method or formula on which success is based: The secret of this dish is in the sauce.

  4. Secret A variable prayer said after the Offertory and before the Preface in the Mass.


[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin sēcrētus, from past participle of sēcernere, to set aside : sē-, apart; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots + cernere, to separate; see krei- in Indo-European roots.]
se'cret·ly adv.
Synonyms: These adjectives mean deliberately hidden from view or knowledge. Secret is the most general: a desk with a secret compartment; secret negotiations.
Stealthy suggests quiet, cautious deceptiveness intended to escape notice: heard stealthy footsteps on the stairs.
Covert describes something that is concealed or disguised: protested covert actions undertaken by the CIA.
Clandestine implies stealth and secrecy for the concealment of an often illegal or improper purpose: clandestine intelligence operations.
Furtive suggests the slyness, shiftiness, and evasiveness of a thief: a menacing and furtive look to his eye.
Something surreptitious is stealthy, furtive, and often unseemly or unethical: the surreptitious mobilization of troops preparing for a sneak attack.
Underhand implies unfairness, deceit, or slyness as well as secrecy: achieved success by underhand methods.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

secret 
1378 (n.), 1399 (adj.), from L. secretus "set apart, withdrawn, hidden," originally pp. of secernere "to set apart," from se- "without, apart," prop. “on one's own” (from PIE *sed-, from base *s(w)e-; see idiom) + cernere "separate" (see crisis). The verb meaning "to keep secret" (described in OED as "obsolete") is attested from 1595. Secretive is attested from 1853. Secret agent first recorded 1715; secret service is from 1737; secret weapon is from 1936.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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