Meaning & use

clandestine

adjective·Advanced

Last updated

Kept secret or done secretively, often because it is illicit or unauthorized.

See it in a sentence

They held a clandestine meeting to plan the escape.

The spy agency ran a clandestine operation in the region for years.

A note on using this word

Often implies not just secrecy but a deliberate, sometimes illegal, effort to avoid detection.

Words with a similar meaning

secretcovertfurtive

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Words with an opposite meaning

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