covert
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkəʊvɜːt/
ipa: /kəʊˈvɜːt/
ipa: /ˈkʌvət/
ipa: /ˈkoʊvɚt/
ipa: /koʊˈvɜɹt/
ipa: /ˈkʌvɚt/
Forms: form: more covert
form: most covert
Etymology: From Middle English covert, from Old French covert, past participle of covrir (“to cover”) (corresponding to Latin coopertus); cognate to cover. Not closely related to overt, despite what the most common pronunciation would suggest.
Senses: examples: text: covert operations
text: how covert matters may be best disclosed
ref: 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
text: whether of open war or covert guile
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: If the President were to inform the Gang of Eight that he signed a covert action finding to overthrow the government of Canada, he would be required to tell others at least something about the finding.
ref: 2010 September 28, Marc Ambinder, “A Step Forward for Oversight of Intelligence”, in The Atlantic:
text: Such concerns were sharpened further by the continuing revelations about how the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been using algorithms to help it interpret the colossal amounts of data it has collected from its covert dragnet of international telecommunications.
ref: 2013 July 26, Leo Hickman, “How algorithms rule the world”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 26:
antonyms: overt
glosses: Secret, surreptitious, concealed.
examples: text: Within that wood there was a covert glade,
 Foreby a narrow foord, to them well knowne […]
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
text: to plant a covert alley
ref: 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Gardens”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
glosses: Hidden, covered over; overgrown, sheltered.
examples: text: feme covert
text: […] a separate use for a woman cannot be created unless she is covert, or unless in immediate contemplation of her marriage.
ref: 1880, Weekly Notes of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the County Courts of Philadelphia, and the United States District and Circuit Courts for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, page 292:
text: […] in the second case, as long as the woman is covert she cannot anticipate the income, and a mere alienation of her interest is not an attempt to anticipate.
ref: 1890, Albert Gibson, Robert McLean, Law Notes, page 77:
text: Being advised of the fact that the woman is covert, he stands charged with a knowledge of her disability . A married woman has no power to deal as principal if she is in fact a surety […]
ref: 1906, Abraham Clark Freeman, The American State Reports: Containing the Cases of General Value and Authority Subsequent to Those Contained in the "American Decisions" [1760-1869] and the "American Reports" [1869-1887] Decided in the Courts of Last Resort of the Several States [1886-1911], page 305:
topics: law
synonyms: covert baron
glosses: Under coverture.
Synonyms: word: abstruse
word: behind the scenes
word: catlike
word: stealth
word: clandestine
word: cloak-and-dagger
word: concealed
word: confidential
word: covert
word: deep-laid
word: dern
word: disguised
word: furtive
word: huggermugger
word: hush-hush
word: inconspicuous
word: incognito
word: low profile
word: lurksome
word: lurky
word: mousy
word: obfuscated
word: off-the-books
word: on the down-low
word: on the sly
word: secret
word: secretive
word: slinky
word: sly
word: sneaky
word: stealthy
word: sub rosa
word: surreptitious
word: under-the-table
word: under the radar
word: under wraps
word: undercover
word: underground
word: unperceived
Hypernyms: word: hidden
Hyponyms: word: arcane
Derived terms: covert channel
covert curriculum
covertism
covertly
covertness
covert prestige
covert stutter
covert stuttering
semicovert
Related terms: word: cover
word: deception
word: sneak