in secret
Unknown to others
Secretly, without others knowing.
In secret emphasizes concealment from specific people or the public: They met in secret for months before anyone found out.
The phrase often implies deliberate hiding rather than mere privacy: The committee deliberated in secret.
- secludedSet apart, private
- spycraftMethods of secret agents
- privateRestricted to certain parties
- confidentialMeant to stay secret
- unspokenNot verbally expressed
hush-hush · kept quiet · hidden · in the shadows · clandestine · undisclosed · on the sly · under the table · obscured · undercover · surreptitious · encrypted · subterfuge · cloak and dagger · black ops · off-the-record · sotto voce · suppressed
- secrecysecrets, confidential, classified, hidden, hiding
in secretopenly
Without hiding anything
in the open · publicly · in public · out in the open · overtly
in secretpublicly
In open view
in public · on the record · officially · announced · on display
secret, secretly, secrecy, secretive, top-secret, secretiveness, secretively