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Webster 1913 Edition

Secret

Se′cret

,
Adj.
[F.
secret
(cf. Sp. & Pg.
secreto
, It.
secreto
,
segreto
), fr. L.
secretus
, p. p. of
secernere
to put apart, to separate. See
Certain
, and cf.
Secrete
,
Secern
.]
1.
Hidden; concealed;
as,
secret
treasure;
secret
plans; a
secret
vow
.
Shak.
The
secret
things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us.
Deut. xxix. 29.
2.
Withdrawn from general intercourse or notice; in retirement or secrecy; secluded.
There,
secret
in her sapphire cell,
He with the Nais wont to dwell.
Fenton.
3.
Faithful to a secret; not inclined to divulge or betray confidence; secretive.
[R.]
Secret
Romans, that have spoke the word,
And will not palter.
Shakespeare
4.
Separate; distinct.
[Obs.]
They suppose two other divine hypostases superior thereunto, which were perfectly
secret
from matter.
Cudworth.
Syn. – Hidden; concealed; secluded; retired; unseen; unknown; private; obscure; recondite; latent; covert; clandestine; privy. See
Hidden
.

Se′cret

,
Noun.
[F.
secret
(cf. Pr.
secret
, Sp. & Pg.
secreto
, It.
secreto
,
segreto
), from L.
secretum
. See
Secret
,
Adj.
]
1.
Something studiously concealed; a thing kept from general knowledge; what is not revealed, or not to be revealed.
To tell our own
secrets
is often folly; to communicate those of others is treachery.
Rambler.
2.
A thing not discovered; what is unknown or unexplained; a mystery.
All
secrets
of the deep, all nature’s works.
Milton.
3.
pl.
The parts which modesty and propriety require to be concealed; the genital organs.
In secret
,
in a private place; in privacy or secrecy; in a state or place not seen; privately.
Bread eaten
in secret
is pleasant.
Prov. ix. 17.

Se′cret

,
Verb.
T.
To keep secret.
[Obs.]
Bacon.

Webster 1828 Edition

Secret

SE'CRET

,
Adj.
[L. secretus. This is given as the participle of secerno, but is radically a different word. The radical sense of seg is to separate, as in L. seco, to cut off; and not improbably this word is contracted into the Latin se, a prefix in segrego, separo, &c.]
1. Properly, separate; hence, hid; concealed from the notice or knowledge of all persons except the individual or individuals concerned.
I have a secret errand to thee, O king. Judges 3.
2. Unseen; private; secluded; being in retirement.
There secret in her sapphire cell,
He with the Nais wont to dwell. Fenton.
3. Removed from sight; private; unknown.
Abide in a secret place, and hide thyself. I Sam. 19.
4. Keeping secrets; faithful to secrets entrusted; as secret Romans. [Unusual.]
5. Private; affording privacy.
6. Occult; not seen; not apparent; as the secret operations of physical causes.
7. Known to God only.

Definition 2024

secret

secret

English

Noun

secret ‎(countable and uncountable, plural secrets)

  1. (countable, uncountable) Knowledge that is hidden and intended to be kept hidden. [from later 14th c.]
    Can you keep a secret? So can I.‎
    • Rambler
      To tell our secrets is often folly; to communicate those of others is treachery.
    • 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
      Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.
    • 2014, Thomas Feller, Trustworthy Reconfigurable Systems
      The storage of cryptographic secrets is one of the paramount requirements in building trustworthy systems.
  2. (uncountable) Something not understood or known.
    • Milton
      All secrets of the deep, all nature's works.
  3. (archaic, in the plural) The genital organs.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

secret ‎(comparative more secret, superlative most secret)

  1. Being or kept hidden. [from late 14th c.]
    We went down a secret passage.‎
    • Bible, Deuteronomy xxix. 29
      The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess:
      The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival 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.
    • Fenton
      secret in her sapphire cell
  3. (obsolete) Faithful to a secret; not inclined to divulge or betray confidence; secretive.
    • Shakespeare
      Secret Romans, that have spoke the word, / And will not palter.
  4. (obsolete) Separate; distinct.
    • Cudworth
      They suppose two other divine hypostases superior thereunto, which were perfectly secret from matter.

Alternative forms

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

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, 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, 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, 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.

Usage notes

  • All other dictionaries label this sense 'obsolete', but the citations above and on the citations page demonstrate recent usage as part of the idiom "secret [something] away".
  • The present participle and past forms secreting and secreted are liable to confusion with the corresponding heteronymous forms of the similar verb secrete.

Quotations

  • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:secret.

Derived terms

References

  1. ↑ George William Lemon. English etymology
  2. ↑
  3. ↑

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: March · whatever · reach · #670: secret · showed · ancient · parts

Anagrams

Catalan

Adjective

secret m ‎(feminine secreta, masculine plural secrets, feminine plural secretes)

  1. secret

Noun

secret m ‎(plural secrets)

  1. secret

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /səkʁɛ/

Etymology 1

From Latin secrētus.

Adjective

secret m ‎(feminine singular secrète, masculine plural secrets, feminine plural secrètes)

  1. secret

Etymology 2

From Latin secrētum.

Noun

secret m ‎(plural secrets)

  1. secret

Anagrams

Middle French

Adjective

secret m ‎(feminine singular secrete, masculine plural secrets, feminine plural secretes)

  1. secret

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowing from French secret, Latin secretum, secretus. Doublet of săcret, which was inherited.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /seˈkret/

Noun

secret n ‎(plural secrete)

  1. secret

Declension

Synonyms

Adjective

secret m, n ‎(feminine singular secretă, masculine plural secreți, feminine and neuter plural secrete)

  1. secret, hidden

Declension

Synonyms

Related terms

Etymology

Middle English secrette, from Old French secret, from Latin sēcrētus ‎(“separated, hidden”), from ptp of sēcernō ‎(“separate, to set aside, sunder out”), from Latin cernō[1], from Proto-Indo-European *krey- [2][3]. Or from Latin sēcūrus ‎(“untroubled, carefree”), from cura. Compare Russian скрытый, сокрытый ('hidden', 'covered', from Russian сокрыть ('to hide', 'to conceal'), which in turn derives from Russian крыть ('to cover')).

Displaced native Middle English diȝel "secret" (from Old English dīegol "secret"), Middle English derne, deorne "dark, hidden, secret" (from Old English dierne "dark, hidden, secret"), Middle English roune, rowne "secret, secret counsel" (from Old English rūn), Middle English hidel "secrecy, secret" (from Old English hȳdels "hiding-stow").

Pronunciation

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