Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The quality or condition of being secret or hidden; concealment.
  • noun The practice or habit of keeping secrets.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being secret or concealed; secret, secretive, or clandestine, manner, method, or conduct; concealment from the observation or knowledge of others: as, to carry on a design in secrecy; to secure secrecy.
  • noun Privacy; retirement; seclusion; solitude.
  • noun Ability to keep a secret or secrets; fidelity in keeping secrets; strict silence regarding matters intended to be kept secret.
  • noun Secretive habits; secretiveness; lack of openness.
  • noun A secret; also, secrets collectively.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The state or quality of being hidden.
  • noun rare That which is concealed; a secret.
  • noun Seclusion; privacy; retirement.
  • noun The quality of being secretive; fidelity to a secret; forbearance of disclosure or discovery.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Concealment; the condition of being secret or hidden
  • noun The habit of keeping secrets.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the condition of being concealed or hidden
  • noun the trait of keeping things secret

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of Middle English secretee, from secret, secret; see secret.]

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