secret
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsiː.kɹɪt/
note: weak vowel merger
ipa: /ˈsiː.kɹət/
ipa: /ˈsiː.kɹɛt/
rhymes: -iːkɹɪt
rhymes: -iːkɹət
rhymes: -iːkɹɛt
Forms: form: more secret
form: most secret
form: secrette
form: secrete
form: secreat
Etymology: From Middle English secrette, from Old French secret, from Latin sēcrētus (“separated, hidden”), from ptp of sēcernō (“separate, to set aside, sunder out”), from cernō, from Proto-Indo-European *krey-. Displaced Old English dēagol (“secret”).
Senses: examples: text: We went down a secret passage.
text: The ſecret things belong unto the Lord our God; but thoſe things which are reuealed belong unto us, and to our children for euer, that wee may doe all the words of this Law.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 29:29:
text: The original family who had begun to build a palace to outrival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, “The Elopers”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 25:
glosses: Being or kept hidden.
examples: text: Sing Heav'nly Muſe, that on the secret top / Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didſt inſpire / That Shepherd, who firſt taught the choſen Seed, / In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth / Roſe out of Chaos: [...]
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, 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, lines 6–10:
text: secret in her sapphire cell
ref: 1716, Elijah Fenton, an ode to the Right Honourable John Lord Gower:
text: "He was a secret man, Alexander—a secret, silent man," he continued.
ref: 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “I Make Acquaintance of My Uncle”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC, page 19:
glosses: Withdrawn from general intercourse or notice; in retirement or secrecy; secluded.
examples: text: What neede we any ſpurre, but our owne cauſe / To pricke vs to redreſſe? What other Bond / Than ſecret Romans, that haue ſpoke the Word, / And will not palter?
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 II, scene i], page 115, column 1:
glosses: Faithful to a secret; not inclined to divulge or betray confidence; secretive, separate, apart.
examples: text: They suppose two other divine hypostases superior thereunto, which were perfectly secret from matter.
ref: 1678, Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe:
glosses: Separate; distinct.
Synonyms: hidden and Thesaurus:covert
Derived terms: sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret admirer
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret agent
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret agentry
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret ballot
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret chancellor
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret code
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret government
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret handshake
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret history
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret ink
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secretive
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secretly
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret menu
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secretness
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret partner
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret police
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret recipe
sense: secret (adjective)
english: secret/sacred
translation: secret/sacred
word: secret-sacred
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret Santa
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret sauce
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret service
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret sharing
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret shopper
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret society
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret sock
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret squirrel
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret vice
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret weapon
sense: secret (adjective)
word: secret writing
sense: secret (adjective)
english: State secret
translation: State secret
word: state secret
sense: secret (adjective)
word: top-secret
sense: secret (adjective)
word: unsecret
Related terms: secrete
secretion