Covert Meaning
/ˈkəʊvɜːt/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjSecret, surreptitious, concealed.
adjHidden, covered over; overgrown, sheltered.
Sentence Examples
Subjugation of the lower classes is important to our covert centralization of resources.
We have been sent on a covert mission.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The agent used a ____ operation to gather secret information.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English covert, from Old French covert, past participle of covrir (“to cover”) (corresponding to Latin coopertus); cognate to cover. Not closely related to overt, despite what the most common pronunciation would suggest.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"how covert matters may be best disclosed"
— 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
"whether of open war or covert guile"
— 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, 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:
"If the President were to inform the Gang of Eight that he signed a covert action finding to overthrow the government of Canada, he would be required to tell others at least something about the finding."
— 2010 September 28, Marc Ambinder, “A Step Forward for Oversight of Intelligence”, in The Atlantic:
"Such concerns were sharpened further by the continuing revelations about how the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been using algorithms to help it interpret the colossal amounts of data it has collected from its covert dragnet of international telecommunications."
— 2013 July 26, Leo Hickman, “How algorithms rule the world”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 26:
"Within that wood there was a covert glade,
Foreby a narrow foord, to them well knowne […]"
— 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The agent used a ____ operation to gather secret information.