Set or kept apart; hidden; concealed.
Privy; not decent to be exposed to view.
Occult; mysterious; not seen; not apparent: as, the secret operations of physical causes.
Affording privacy; retired; secluded; private.
Close, cautious, or discreet in speech, or as regards the disclosure of one's own or another's affairs; faithful in keeping secrets; not given to blabbing or the betrayal of confidence; secretive; reticent.
Synonyms and Secret, Latent, Private, Covert, Occult, Clandestine, hidden, concealed, covered, shrouded, veiled, obscure, recondite, close, unknown. The last four of the italicized words, and in their primary sense the participles, express intentional concealment; the others do not. Secret is the most general, but expresses complete concealment. Latent, literally lying concealed, may mean hidden from those most concerned: as, I had a latent sense, feeling, or desire; hence its appropriateness in the expression latent heat. Private (as, it was kept strictly private) emphasizes the fact that some know the thing in question, while others are kept in ignorance. Covert— that is, covered—suggests something underhand or well put out of sight: as, a covert motive, sneer, irony: it is opposed to frank or avowed. Occult suggests mystery that cannot be penetrated: as, the occult operations of nature; occult arts. Clandestine is now always used for studious or artful concealment of an objectionable or dishonorable sort: as, a clandestine correspondence: it applies especially to action.
noun.
Something studiously hidden or concealed; a thing kept from general knowledge; what is not or should not be revealed.
noun.
A hidden, unrevealed, unexplained, or unex-plainable thing; a mystery.
noun.
The key or principle by the application of which some difficulty is solved, or that which is not obvious is explained or made clear; hidden reason or explanation.
noun.
Secrecy.
noun.
In liturgics, a variable prayer in the Roman and some other Latin liturgies, said secretly (see secretly) by the celebrant after the offertory, etc., and immediately before the preface.
noun.
plural The parts of the body which propriety requires to be concealed.
noun.
A concealed piece or suit of armor. Persons fearing assassination sometimes wear such defenses beneath their ordinary dress.
noun.
A skull-cap of steel worn sometimes under and sometimes over the camail.
noun.
A skeleton cap of slender steel bars, affording a good defense against a blow, worn within a hat or other head-covering.
noun.
A secret device or contrivance.