secret

/ˈsikrɪt/

/ˈsikrɛt/
IPA guide

Other forms: secrets; secretest

A secret is something you don’t want everybody to know, like your secret crush on the bus driver. A secret can also be a mystery known to only a few — the secret of the lost pyramid.

There might be a secret passageway in your basement that only you know about. You could have a secret passion for Japanese anime comics and share that secret with only your closest friends. If you're "in on a secret" — plans for a surprise birthday party, for instance — that means you're in the inner circle of people in the know. Everybody has to keep the secret, or the party won't be a surprise.

Definitions of secret
  1. adjective
    not openly made known
    “a secret marriage”
    “a secret bride”
    synonyms: unavowed
    unacknowledged
    not recognized or admitted
  2. adjective
    not open or public; kept private or not revealed
    “a secret formula”
    “secret ingredients”
    “secret talks”
    synonyms:
    concealed
    hidden on any grounds for any motive
  3. adjective
    hidden from general view or use
    “a secret garden”
    synonyms: privy, secluded
    private
    confined to particular persons or groups or providing privacy
  4. adjective
    conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods
    “secret missions”
    “a secret agent”
    “secret sales of arms”
    synonyms: clandestine, cloak-and-dagger, hole-and-corner, hugger-mugger, hush-hush, surreptitious, undercover, underground
    covert
    secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed
  5. adjective
    designed to elude detection
    “a secret passage”
    “the secret compartment in the desk”
    synonyms: hidden
    concealed
    hidden on any grounds for any motive
  6. adjective
    indulging only covertly
    synonyms:
    covert
    secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed
  7. adjective
    the next to highest level of official classification for documents
    synonyms:
    classified
    official classification of information or documents; withheld from general circulation
  8. noun
    something that should remain hidden from others (especially information that is not to be passed on)
    “the combination to the safe was a secret”
    “he tried to keep his drinking a secret”
    see moresee less
    types:
    confidence
    a secret that is confided or entrusted to another
    open secret
    something that is supposed to be secret but is generally known
    trade secret
    a secret (method or device or formula) that gives a manufacturer an advantage over the competition
    type of:
    info, information
    a message received and understood
  9. adjective
    (of information) given in confidence or in secret
    “their secret communications”
    synonyms: confidential
    private
    confined to particular persons or groups or providing privacy
  10. adjective
    communicated covertly
    “their secret signal was a wink”
    “secret messages”
    synonyms:
    covert
    secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed
  11. adjective
    not expressed
    synonyms: private
    inward
    relating to or existing in the mind or thoughts
  12. adjective
    having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding
    “the secret learning of the ancients”
    synonyms: mysterious, mystic, mystical, occult, orphic
    esoteric
    confined to and understandable by only an enlightened inner circle
  13. noun
    information known only to a special group
    “the secret of Cajun cooking”
    synonyms: arcanum
    see moresee less
    types:
    esoterica
    secrets known only to an initiated minority
    cabala, cabbala, cabbalah, kabala, kabbala, kabbalah, qabala, qabalah
    an esoteric or occult matter resembling the Kabbalah that is traditionally secret
    countersign, parole, password, watchword, word
    a secret word or phrase known only to a restricted group
    type of:
    info, information
    a message received and understood
  14. noun
    something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained
    “it remains one of nature's secrets”
    synonyms: closed book, enigma, mystery
    see moresee less
    type of:
    perplexity
    trouble or confusion resulting from complexity
Pronunciation
US

/ˈsikrɪt/
UK

/ˈsikrɛt/
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Word Family

Vocabulary lists containing secret

"The Secret Water"

Learn these words from the legend by Daphne Liu (Inside: Level A, Unit 2). Here are our links to the selections of "Water for Life": The Secret Water, How Do We Use Water?, Water at Work, Irrigation Pumps Can Save Poor Farmers Here are our links to the units of Level A: Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6, Unit 7, Unit 8 Here are our links to the Inside books: Level A, Level B, Level C Here is our link to a list of academic vocabulary for Inside: Academic Vocabulary

"Hanging Fire"

Audre Lorde published her first poem as a teenager, and went on to become the poet laureate of New York State. In "Hanging Fire" she takes on the voice of a young girl whose emotions are figuratively on fire and who wishes her mother who is "in the bedroom with the door closed" would come out to help her cool down. Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 9 Unit 4's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: Poetry, poemcrazy, Nikki-Rosa, We Real Cool, Fast Break, Identity, Ego Tripping, Hanging Fire, odes, Sonnet 18, In Response to Executive Order 9066, Young, Poetry Cafe, poems by Nikki Giovanni

"Frankenstein" and "How Frankenstein Began"

Learn these words from an adaptation and introduction of the novel by Mary Shelley (Inside: Level A, Unit 4). Here are our links to the selections of "Creepy Classics": Frankenstein; How Frankenstein Began, Film Fright, Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, Mister Monster, Frankenstein Here are our links to the units of Level A: Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6, Unit 7, Unit 8 Here are our links to the Inside books: Level A, Level B, Level C Here is our link to a list of academic vocabulary for Inside: Academic Vocabulary

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