secret

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Kept private

Nouns — secret; dead secret, profound secret; mystery; sealed or closed book; skeleton in the closet; confidence; hidden agenda; problem, enigma, riddle, puzzle, crossword puzzle, [double] acrostic, jigsaw puzzle, nut to crack, conundrum, charade, rebus, logogriph, anagram (see difficulty); Sphinx, riddle of the Sphinx, milk in the coconut, skeleton in the closet; covert action, inside information; grapevine; labyrinth; unintelligibility; terra incognita; arcanum, esotery, esotericism, occult, occultism; encryption, password. See concealment, wonder, sorcery, latency.

Verbs — secrete, hide, conceal, disguise; classify; keep to oneself, keep under one's hat, hush up. Informal, sit on. Slang, softshoe.

Adjectives

1. secret, concealed, clandestine, underhand[ed], arcane, enigmatical, recondite, privy, mysterious, puzzling, labyrinthine, veiled, hidden, problematical, paradoxical, inscrutable, unintelligible; esoteric, occult, mystic. Informal, hush-hush, under the counter, hugger-mugger. Slang, closet.

2. classified; restricted, confidential, secret, top secret, most secret, eyes only.

3. secretive, evasive; uncommunicative, poker-faced, reticent (see taciturnity).

Adverbs — secretly, on the sly, like a thief in the night; under one's breath; sub rosa, between you and me [and the bedpost]. Informal, on the q. t. See concealment.

Phrases — little pitchers have large ears; never tell tales out of school; a secret is either too good to keep or too bad not to tell; there are tricks in every trade.

Quotations — I know that's a secret, for it's whispered everywhere (William Congreve), We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the Secret sits in the middle and knows (Robert Frost), Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it is awfully hard to get it back in (H. R. Haldeman), Digestion is the great secret of life (Rev. Sydney Smith), It is good to keep close the secret of a king (Bible).

Antonyms, see disclosure, information.

II

(Roget's IV) modif.

1. [Not generally known]

Syn. mysterious, ambiguous, hidden, unknown, arcane, cryptic, esoteric, abstruse, occult, mystic, mystical, classified, dark, veiled, enigmatical, enigmatic, strange, deep, buried in mystery, obscure, clouded, recondite, shrouded, unenlightened, unintelligible, cabalistic.

Ant. known*, revealed, exposed.

2. [Hidden]

Syn. latent, secluded, concealed; see hidden 2 .

3. [Operating secretly]

Syn. clandestine, covert, underhand, underhanded, stealthy, sly, surreptitious, close, in ambuscade, in ambush, furtive, disguised, undercover, hush-hush*, backdoor, confidential, backstairs, incognito, camouflaged, cryptographic, enigmatic, under false pretense, unrevealed, undisclosed, dissembled, dissimulated, in camera (Latin), under wraps*; see also secretive , sly 1 , taciturn .

Ant. open*, aboveboard, overt.

Syn.- secret , the general term, implies a concealing or keeping from the knowledge of others, for whatever reason [ my secret opinion of him ] ; covert implies a concealing as by disguising or veiling [ a covert threat ] ; clandestine suggests that what is being kept secret is of an illicit, immoral, or proscribed nature [ their clandestine meetings in the park ] ; stealthy implies a slow, quiet secrecy of action in an attempt to elude notice and often connotes deceit [ the stealthy advance of the panther ] ; furtive adds to this connotations of slyness or watchfulness and suggests a reprehensible objective [ the furtive movement of his hand toward my pocket ] ; surreptitious connotes a feeling of guilt in the one who is acting in a furtive or stealthy manner [ she stole a surreptitious glance at him ] ; underhanded implies a stealthiness characterized by fraudulence or deceit [underhanded business dealings ] n.

Syn. mystery, deep mystery, something veiled, something hidden, confidence, private matter, code, personal matter, privileged information, top secret, enigma, intrigue, puzzle, something forbidden, classified information, an unknown, magic number, the unknown.

• in secret,

Syn. slyly, surreptitiously, quietly; see secret 3 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

confidence, classified information, privileged information, *skeleton in the closet, mystery, enigma.

II

a.

concealed, hidden, covert, confidential, private, surreptitious, furtive, stealthy, underhanded, sneaky, quiet, silent, hush-hush, under wraps, classified, undisclosed, clandestine, mysterious, cryptic, secluded, sequestered, out-of-the-way, undercover.

ANT.: overt, public, open

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I adjective 1. Concealed from view: hidden, screened, secluded. See SHOW. 2. Existing or operating in a way so as to ensure complete concealment and confidentiality: clandestine, cloak-and-dagger, covert, huggermugger, sub-rosa, undercover. Informal: hush-hush. Idiom: under wraps. See SHOW. 3. Known about by very few: auricular, confidential, inside, private. Informal: hush-hush. See SHOW. II noun A means or method of entering into or achieving something desirable: formula, key, route. Informal: ticket. See MEANS.