Something that should remain hidden from others (especially information that is not to be passed on).

Roget 522: interpretation, definition; explanation, explication; solution, answer; rationale; plain interpretation, simple interpretation, strict interpretation; meaning etc. 516.    translation; rendering, rendition; redition^†; literal translation, free translation; key; secret; clew etc. (indication) 550; clavis^†, crib, pony, trot [U.S.].    exegesis; expounding, exposition; hermeneutics; comment, commentary; inference etc. (deduction) 480; illustration, exemplification; gloss, annotation, scholium^†, note; elucidation, dilucidation^†; eclaircissement [Fr.], mot d'enigme [Fr.].    [methods of interpreting - list] symptomatology [Med.], semiology, semeiology^†, semiotics; metoposcopy^†, physiognomy; paleography etc. (philology) 560; oneirology acception^†, acceptation, acceptance; light, reading, lection, construction, version.    equivalent, equivalent meaning etc. 516; synonym; paraphrase, metaphrase^†; convertible terms, apposition; dictionary etc. 562; polyglot.    ... show more

Dutch: geheim, geheimpje
Polish: sekret, tajemnica

Information known only to a special group:
— The secret of Cajun cooking.

synonym: arcanum.

Dutch: geheim

Something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained:
— It remains one of nature's secrets.

synonyms: closed book, enigma, mystery.

Roget 533: secret; dead secret, profound secret; arcanum^†, mystery; latency etc. 526; Asian mystery^†; sealed book, secrets of the prison house; le desous des cartes [Fr.].    enigma, riddle, puzzle, nut to crack, conundrum, charade, rebus, logogriph^†; monogram, anagram; Sphinx; crux criticorum [Lat.].    maze, labyrinth, Hyrcynian wood; intricacy, meander.    problem etc. (question) 461; paradox etc. (difficulty) 704; unintelligibility etc. 519; terra incognita etc. (ignorance) 491.    ... show more

Roget 526: latency, inexpression^†; hidden meaning, occult meaning; occultness, mystery, cabala^†, anagoge^†; silence etc. (taciturnity) 585; concealment etc. 528; more than meets the eye, more than meets the ear; Delphic oracle; le dessous des cartes [Fr.], undercurrent.    implication, logical implication; logical consequence; entailment.    allusion, insinuation; innuendo etc. 527; adumbration; something rotten in the state of Denmark" [Hamlet]. snake in the grass etc. (pitfall) 667; secret etc. 533.    darkness, invisibility, imperceptibility.    ... show more

Roget 528: concealment; hiding etc. v.; occultation, mystification.    seal of secrecy; screen etc. 530; disguise etc. 530; masquerade; masked battery; hiding place etc. 530; cryptography, steganography^†; freemasonry.    stealth, stealthiness, sneakiness; obreption^†; slyness etc. (cunning) 702.    latitancy^†, latitation^†; seclusion etc. 893; privacy, secrecy, secretness^†; incognita.    reticence; reserve; mental reserve, reservation; arriere pensee [Fr.], suppression, evasion, white lie, misprision; silence etc. (taciturnity) 585; suppression of truth etc. 544; underhand dealing; closeness, secretiveness etc. adj.; mystery.    latency etc. 526; snake in the grass; secret etc. 533; stowaway.    ... show more

Dutch: geheim, mysterie, verborgenheid
Polish: niewiadoma, enigma, pytajnik, znak zapytania, zagadka, tajemnica, misterium

Not open or public; kept private or not revealed.

Polish: tajny

Conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods:
— Secret missions.
— A secret agent.
— Secret sales of arms.

synonyms: clandestine, cloak-and-dagger, hole-and-corner, hugger-mugger, hush-hush, surreptitious, undercover, underground.

Roget 526: latent; lurking etc. v.; secret etc. 528; occult; implied etc. v.; dormant; abeyant.    unapparent, unknown, unseen etc. 441; in the background; invisible etc. 447; indiscoverable^†, dark; impenetrable etc. (unintelligible) 519; unspied^†, unsuspected.    unsaid, unwritten, unpublished, unbreathed^†, untalked of^†, untold etc. 527, unsung, unexposed, unproclaimed^†, undisclosed etc. 529, unexpressed; not expressed, tacit.    undeveloped, solved, unexplained, untraced^†, undiscovered etc. 480.1, untracked, unexplored, uninvented^†.    indirect, crooked, inferential; by inference, by implication; implicit; constructive; allusive, covert, muffled; steganographic^†; understood, underhand, underground; delitescent^†, concealed etc. 528.    ... show more

Roget 528: concealed etc. v.; hidden; secret, recondite, mystic, cabalistic, occult, dark; cryptic, cryptical^†; private, privy, in petto, auricular, clandestine, close, inviolate; tortuous.    behind a screen etc. 530; undercover, under an eclipse; in ambush, in hiding, in disguise; in a cloud, in a fog, in a mist, in a haze, in a dark corner; in the shade, in the dark; clouded, wrapped in clouds, wrapt in clouds^†; invisible etc. 447; buried, underground, perdu [Fr.]; secluded etc. 893.    undisclosed etc. 529, untold etc. 527; covert etc. (latent) 526; untraceable; mysterious etc. (unintelligible) 519.    irrevealable^†, inviolable; confidential; esoteric; not to be spoken of; unmentionable.    obreptitious^†, furtive, stealthy, feline; skulking etc. v.; surreptitious, underhand, hole and corner; sly etc. (cunning) 702; secretive, evasive; reserved, reticent, uncommunicative, buttoned up; close, close as wax; taciturn etc. 585.    ... show more

Not openly made known:
— A secret marriage.
— A secret bride.

synonym: unavowed.

Polish: cichy

Communicated covertly.

Not expressed:
— Secret (or private) thoughts.

synonym: private.

Designed to elude detection:
— A secret passage.
— The secret compartment in the desk.

synonym: hidden.

Hidden from general view or use:
— A secret garden.

synonyms: privy, secluded.

of information Given in confidence or in secret:
— Their secret communications.

synonym: confidential.

Roget 533: secret etc. (concealed) 528; involved &c., 248; labyrinthine, labyrinthian^†, mazy.    confidential; top secret.   

Polish: pokątny, poufny, sekretny, tajemny, tajny, dyskrecjonalny, konfidencjonalny, ukrywany

Indulging only covertly.

Having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding:
— The secret learning of the ancients.

synonyms: mysterious, mystic, mystical, occult, orphic.

The next to highest level of official classification for documents.

Generate and separate from cells or bodily fluids:
— Secrete digestive juices.

synonym: release.

Roget 297: give exit, give vent to; let out, give out, pour out, squeeze out, send out; dispatch, despatch; exhale, excern^†, excrete; embogue^†; secrete, secern^†; extravasate [Med.], shed, void, evacuation; emit; open the sluices, open the floodgates; turn on the tap; extrude, detrude^†; effuse, spend, expend; pour forth; squirt, spirt^†, spurt, spill, slop; perspire etc. (exude) 295; breathe, blow etc. (wind) 349.    tap, draw off; bale out, lade out; let blood, broach.    eject, reject; expel, discard; cut, send to coventry, boycott; chasser [Fr.]; banish etc. (punish) 972; bounce [U.S.]; fire [Slang], fire out [Slang]; throw etc. 284, throw out, throw up, throw off, throw away, throw aside; push etc. 276; throw out, throw off, throw away, throw aside; shovel out, shovel away, sweep out, sweep away; brush off, brush away, whisk off, whisk away, turn off, turn away, send off, send away; discharge; send adrift, turn adrift, cast adrift; turn out, bundle out; throw overboard; give the sack to; send packing, send about one's business, send to the right about; strike off the roll etc. (abrogate) 756; turn out neck and heels, turn out head and shoulders, turn out neck and crop; pack off; send away with a flea in the ear; send to Jericho; bow out, show the door to, turn out of doors, turn out of house and home; evict, oust; unhouse, unkennel; dislodge; unpeople^†, dispeople^†; depopulate; relegate, deport.    empty; drain to the dregs; sweep off; clear off, clear out, clear away; suck, draw off; clean out, make a clean sweep of, clear decks, purge.    embowel^†, disbowel^†, disembowel; eviscerate, gut; unearth, root out, root up; averuncate^†; weed out, get out; eliminate, get rid of, do away with, shake off; exenterate^†.    vomit, throw up, regurgitate, spew, puke, keck^†, retch, heave, upchuck, chuck up, barf; belch out; cast up, bring up, be sick, get sick, worship the porcelain god.    disgorge; expectorate, clear the throat, hawk, spit, sputter, splutter, slobber, drivel, slaver, slabber^†; eructate; drool.    unpack, unlade, unload, unship, offload; break bulk; dump.    be let out.    spew forth, erupt, ooze etc. (emerge) 295.    ... show more

Roget 528: conceal, hide, secrete, put out of sight; lock up, seal up, bottle up.    encrypt, encode, cipher.    cover, screen, cloak, veil, shroud; cover up one's tracks; screen from sight, screen from observation; drawing the veil; draw the curtain, close the curtain; curtain, shade, eclipse, throw a view over; be cloud, be mask; mask, disguise; ensconce, muffle, smother; befog; whisper.    keep from; keep back, keep to oneself; keep snug, keep close, keep secret, keep dark; bury; sink, suppress; keep from, keep from out of view, keep from out of sight; keep in the shade, throw into the shade, throw into background; stifle, hush up, smother, withhold, reserve; fence with a question; ignore etc. 460.    keep a secret, keep one's own counsel; hold one's tongue etc. (silence) 585; make no sign, not let it go further; not breathe a word, not breathe a syllable about; not let the right hand know what the left is not let the right hand know what the left is doing; hide one's light under a bushel, bury one's talent in a napkin.    keep in the dark, leave in the dark, keep in the ignorance; blind, blind the eyes; blindfold, hoodwink, mystify; puzzle etc. (render uncertain) 475; bamboozle etc. (deceive) 545.    be concealed etc. v.; suffer an eclipse; retire from sight, couch; hide oneself; lie hid, lie in perdu [Fr.], lie in close; lie in ambush (ambush) 530; seclude oneself etc. 893; lurk, sneak, skulk, slink, prowl; steal into, steal out of, steal by, steal along; play at bopeep^†, play at hide and seek; hide in holes and corners; still hunt.    ... show more

Place out of sight; keep secret.