secret

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English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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The noun is from Middle English secret, from Latin sēcrētum.[1][2] Doublet of secretum. Displaced Old English dēagolnes (“a secret”).

The verb is from the noun.[3]

Noun

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secret (countable and uncountable, plural secrets)

  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 29, [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.
    • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel:
      Barla Von: Most people think I deal in finances, but my real currency is knowledge. I trade information and it has made me very wealthy.
      Barla Von: But the Shadow Broker is the true master. Every day, he buys and sells secrets that could topple governments, always giving them to the highest bidder.
    • 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. 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.
  8. (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
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Derived terms
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Terms derived from secret (noun)
Descendants
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  • Pitcairn-Norfolk: siikret
Translations
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Verb

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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
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  • 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
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Derived terms
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References
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Etymology 2

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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,[4] from Proto-Indo-European *krey-.[5][6] Displaced Old English dēagol (“secret”).

Adjective

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secret (comparative more secret, superlative most secret)

  1. Being or kept hidden. [from late 14th c.]
    We went down a secret passage.
  2. (obsolete) Withdrawn from general intercourse or notice; in retirement or secrecy; secluded.
  3. (obsolete) Faithful to a secret; not inclined to divulge or betray confidence; secretive, separate, apart.
  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.
Alternative forms
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Synonyms
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Antonyms
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Derived terms
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secret (adjective)
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Translations
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References

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  1. ^ “sēcrē̆t, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “secret (n.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  3. ^ “secret, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  4. ^ George William Lemon. English etymology
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ [2]

Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin sēcrētus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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

  1. secret

Derived terms

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Noun

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secret m (plural secrets)

  1. secret

Derived terms

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Further reading

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French

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /sə.kʁɛ/, (dated) /sə.ɡʁɛ/
  • Audio:(file)

Etymology 1

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Inherited from Middle French secret, from Old French secret, borrowed from Latin secrētus.

Adjective

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

  1. secret
    admirateur secret ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    agent secret ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    botte secrète ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    code secret ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    jardin secret ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    service secret ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Etymology 2

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Inherited from Old French secret, borrowed from Latin secrētum.

Noun

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secret m (plural secrets)

  1. secret
    Il n’y a pas de secret. ― There's no magic formula to it.
  2. secrecy
    dans le plus grand secret ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
Derived terms
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Descendants
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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Middle French

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Etymology

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From Old French secret.

Adjective

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

  1. secret

Descendants

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Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French secret, Latin secretum, secretus. Doublet of săcret.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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secret n (plural secrete)

  1. secret
    Synonym: taină

Declension

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singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative secret secretul secrete secretele
genitive-dative secret secretului secrete secretelor
vocative secretule secretelor

Adjective

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

  1. secret, hidden
    Synonyms: tainic, ascuns

Declension

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singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative/
accusative 		indefinite secret secretă secreți secrete
definite secretul secreta secreții secretele
genitive/
dative 		indefinite secret secrete secreți secrete
definite secretului secretei secreților secretilor
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