English
secret
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /ˈsiːkɹɪt/
  • (weak vowel) IPA: /ˈsiːkɹət/
  • (obsolete) IPA: /ˈsiːkɹɛt/
Etymology 1

The noun is from Middle English secret, from Latin sēcrētum.

The verb is from the noun.

Noun

secret

  1. (countable) A piece of knowledge that is hidden and intended to be kept hidden. [from late 14th c.]
    "Can you keep a secret?" "Yes." "So can I."
    • May 1 , 1750, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler No. 13
      To tell our own secrets is generally folly, but that folly is without guilt; to communicate those with which we are intrusted is always treachery
    • 1822 May 28, [Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in The Fortunes of Nigel. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC ↗, page 216 ↗:
      Well, mistress, I am sorry this is a matter I cannot aid you in—it goes against my conscience, and it is an affair above my condition, and beyond my management;—but I will keep your secret.
  2. The key or principle by which something is made clear; the knack.
    The secret to a long-lasting marriage is compromise.
  3. Something not understood or known.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, 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 1468–1469:
      Thou knewſt by name, and all th' ethereal powers, / All ſecrets of the deep, all Natures works,
  4. (uncountable) Private seclusion.
    The work was done in secret, so that nobody could object.
  5. (archaic, in the plural) The genital organs.
  6. (historical) A form of steel skullcap.
  7. (Christianity, often, in the plural) Any prayer spoken inaudibly and not aloud; especially, one of the prayers in the Tridentine Mass, immediately following the "orate, fratres", said inaudibly by the celebrant.
Synonyms Translations Verb

secret (third-person singular simple present secrets, present participle (UK) secretting or (US) secreting, simple past and past participle (UK) secretted or (US) secreted)

  1. (transitive) To make or keep secret. [from late 16th c.]
    • 1984, Peter Scott Lawrence, [http://books.google.com/books?id=DJcx7dx3ZJAC&lpg=PA26&dq=%22secret%20it%20away%22&pg=PA26#v=onepage&q=%22secret%20it%20away%22&f=false| Around the mulberry tree], Firefly Books, p. 26
      [...] she would unfold the silk, press it with a smooth wooden block that she'd heated in the oven, and then once more secret it away.
    • 1986, [http://books.google.com/books?id=jzwEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA19&dq=%22secret%20it%20away%22&pg=PA19#v=onepage&q=%22secret%20it%20away%22&f=false| InfoWorld], InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.
      Diskless workstations [...] make it difficult for individuals to copy information [...] onto a diskette and secret it away.
    • 1994, Phyllis Granoff & Koichi Shinohara, [http://books.google.com/books?id=9fEU_l4fSg4C&dq=%22secret+it+away%22&source=gbs_navlinks_s| Monks and magicians: religious biographies in Asia], Mosaic Press, p. 50
      To prevent the elixir from reaching mankind and thereby upsetting the balance of the universe, two gods secret it away.
  2. (transitive) To hide secretly.
    He was so scared for his safety he secreted arms around the house.
Etymology 2

From Middle English secrette, from Old French secret, from Latin sēcrētus, from ptp of sēcernō ("separate, to set aside, sunder out"), from cernō, from Proto-Indo-European *krey-.

Adjective

secret

  1. Being or kept hidden. [from late 14th c.]
    We went down a secret passage.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Deuteronomy 29:29 ↗:
      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.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, “The Elopers”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC ↗, page 25 ↗:
      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.
  2. (obsolete) Withdrawn from general intercourse or notice; in retirement or secrecy; secluded.
    • 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:
      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: [...]
    • 1716, Elijah Fenton, an ode to the Right Honourable John Lord Gower:
      secret in her sapphire cell
    • 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 ↗:
      "He was a secret man, Alexander—a secret, silent man," he continued.
  3. (obsolete) Faithful to a secret; not inclined to divulge or betray confidence; secretive, separate, apart.
    • 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:
      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?
  4. (obsolete) Separate; distinct.
    • 1678, Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe:
      They suppose two other divine hypostases superior thereunto, which were perfectly secret from matter.
Synonyms Antonyms Related terms Translations

This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.007
Offline English dictionary