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Webster 1913 Edition


Secrecy

Se′cre-cy

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Secrecies
(#)
.
[From
Secret
.]
1.
The state or quality of being hidden;
as, his movements were detected in spite of their
secrecy
.
The Lady Anne,
Whom the king hath in
secrecy
long married.
Shakespeare
2.
That which is concealed; a secret.
[R.]
Shak.
3.
Seclusion; privacy; retirement.
“The pensive secrecy of desert cell.”
Milton.
4.
The quality of being secretive; fidelity to a secret; forbearance of disclosure or discovery.
It is not with public as with private prayer; in this, rather
secrecy
is commanded than outward show.
Hooker.

Webster 1828 Edition


Secrecy

SE'CRECY

,
Noun.
[from secret.]
1. Properly, a state of separation; hence, concealment from the observation of others, or from the notice of any persons not concerned; privacy; a state of being bid from view. When used of an individual, secrecy implies concealment from all others; when used of two or more, it implies concealment from all persons except those concerned. thus a company of counterfeiters carry on their villainy in secrecy.
The Lady Anne, Whom the king in secrecy hath long married. Shak.
2. Solitude; retirement; seclusion from the view of others.
3. Forbearance of disclosure or discovery.
It is not with public as with private prayer; in this, rather secrecy is commanded than outward show. Hooker.
4. Fidelity to a secret; the act or habit of keeping secrets.
For secrecy no lady closer.

Definition 2024


secrecy

secrecy

English

Noun

secrecy (countable and uncountable, plural secrecies)

  1. Concealment; the condition of being secret or hidden.
    • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterII:
      Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, []. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.
  2. The habit of keeping secrets.

Synonyms

Translations