secretive
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]From Middle English secretife, equivalent to secret + -ive.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈsiːkɹɪtɪv/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
- (weak vowel merger) IPA(key): /ˈsiːkɹətɪv/
Adjective
[edit]secretive (comparative more secretive, superlative most secretive)
- Having an inclination to secrecy.
- She's a secretive girl, not giving away much about her life.
- Why are you acting all secretive? What are you hiding?
- 1987, Christina Hardyment, “Picking up Gold and Silver”, in Heidi’s Alp: One Family’s Search for Storybook Europe, Book Club edition, New York, N.Y.: The Atlantic Monthly Press, →OCLC, page 100:
- Sitting back on a bench in the sunshine, Tom and I began to catch up with each other while the girls arranged their surprises at the remotest picnic table in the lay-by. Genial lorry drivers, munching wurst high in their cabs, looking down on their secretive toing and froing with interest.
Synonyms
[edit]- furtive
- sly
- See also Thesaurus:covert
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]having an inclination to secrecy
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Etymology 2
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /səˈkɹiːtɪv/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Adjective
[edit]secretive (not comparable)
- Relating to secretion
Anagrams
[edit]Italian
[edit]Adjective
[edit]secretive
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms suffixed with -ive
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English heteronyms
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian adjective forms