Secret Meaning
/ˈsiː.kɹɪt/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA piece of knowledge that is hidden and intended to be kept hidden.
nounThe key or principle by which something is made clear; the knack.
Sentence Examples
There's a secret path on the left.
Your secret will be safe with me.
They managed to gain access to secret files.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The information was a closely guarded ____, known only to a few trusted people.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She kept the surprise party a ____ from her husband for three whole weeks.
Word Origin & History
The noun is from Middle English secret, from Latin sēcrētum. Doublet of secretum. Displaced Old English dēagolnes (“a secret”). The verb is from the noun.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1822 May 29, [Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in The Fortunes of Nigel. […], volume I (in English), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 216:
"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."
— 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel:
"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."
— 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
"The storage of cryptographic secrets is one of the paramount requirements in building trustworthy systems."
— 2014, Thomas Feller, Trustworthy Reconfigurable Systems:
"Thou knewſt by name, and all th' ethereal powers, / All ſecrets of the deep, all Natures works,"
— 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:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The information was a closely guarded ____, known only to a few trusted people.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She kept the surprise party a ____ from her husband for three whole weeks.