SECRECY

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The trait of keeping things secret

Synonyms:

secrecy; secretiveness; silence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("secrecy" is a kind of...):

uncommunicativeness (the trait of being uncommunicative)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "secrecy"):

mum (secrecy)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The condition of being concealed or hidden

Synonyms:

concealment; privacy; privateness; secrecy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("secrecy" is a kind of...):

isolation (a state of separation between persons or groups)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "secrecy"):

covertness; hiddenness (the state of being covert and hidden)

bosom (the chest considered as the place where secret thoughts are kept)

confidentiality (the state of being secret)

hiding (the state of being hidden)

Credits

Context examples:

Each member of the Cabinet was informed of it yesterday, but the pledge of secrecy which attends every Cabinet meeting was increased by the solemn warning which was given by the Prime Minister.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Wolf Larsen it was, always Wolf Larsen, enslaver and tormentor of men, a male Circe and these his swine, suffering brutes that grovelled before him and revolted only in drunkenness and in secrecy.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was evident, from the manner in which she held her course, that she was going to some fixed destination; and this, and her keeping in the busy streets, and I suppose the strange fascination in the secrecy and mystery of so following anyone, made me adhere to my first purpose.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Professor Challenger's reasons for secrecy may be valid or not, but we had no choice but to adopt them, for he was prepared to abandon the whole expedition rather than modify the conditions upon which he would guide us.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This research pushes the date for the last common ancestor between sharks and other types of jawed vertebrates back to 440 million years ago — more than 17 million years older than the previous estimate — and raises new questions about what life was like during a prehistoric period long shrouded in secrecy.

(Ancient sharks likely more diverse than previously thought, National Science Foundation)

But the man who went softly, by circuitous ways, peering with caution, seeking after secrecy—that was the man who received no suspension of judgment from White Fang, and who went away abruptly, hurriedly, and without dignity.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

We have already agreed that secrecy may be necessary, and we must acknowledge that it could not be maintained if their correspondence were to pass through Sir John's hands.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Miss Crawford need not have urged secrecy with so much warmth; she might have trusted to her sense of what was due to her cousin.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Having said thus much, I feel no doubt of your secrecy.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

These alarms, and the desperate need for secrecy, argue that the matter is one of life or death.