secretive
adj/səˈkɹiːtɪv/
Etymology From secrete + -ive.
1
Relating to secretion.
secretive
adj/ˈsiːkɹɪtɪv/ · /ˈsiːkɹətɪv/
Etymology From Middle English secretife, equivalent to secret + -ive.
1
Having an inclination to secrecy.
- She's a secretive girl, not giving away much about her life.
- Why are you acting all secretive? What are you hiding?
2 more examples
- Sitting back on a bench in the sunshine, Tom and I began to catch up with each other while the girls arranged their surprises at the remotest picnic table in the lay-by. Genial lorry drivers, munching wurst high in their cabs, looking down on their secretive toing and froing with interest.1987, Christina Hardyment, “Picking up Gold and Silver”, in Heidi’s Alp: One Family’s Search for Storybook Europe, Book Club edition, New York, N.Y.: The Atlantic Monthly Press, →OCLC, page 100:
- Donald Trump has lashed out against his own supporters, calling them gullible “weaklings” for questioning the transparency of a secretive government inquiry into the late high-profile socialite and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.2025 July 17, Oliver Holmes, “Trump calls Epstein conspiracy a ‘hoax’ and turns on Maga ‘weaklings’”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 10 Aug 2025:
- Derived terms
- hypersecretive, nonsecretive, secretively, secretiveness, semisecretive, supersecretive, unsecretive