clandestine

comparative more clandestine · superlative most clandestine

1. Done or kept in secret, sometimes to conceal an illicit or improper purpose.

   clandestine military operations

   5 more examples

   Monimia, who while she yielded to his earnest entreaties had always felt, from the natural rectitude of her understanding, the impropriety of their clandestine correspondence, would, he feared, be more than ever sensible of her indiscretion, when she found that a servant was entrusted with it...

   1793, Charlotte Smith, chapter 1, in The Old Manor House, volume 3

   Whether the torments of absence were softened by a clandestine correspondence, let us not inquire. Mr. and Mrs. Morland never did.

   1818, Jane Austen, chapter 31, in Northanger Abbey

   Wildeve's clandestine plan with her was to take a little gravel in his hand and hold it to the crevice at the top of the window shutter, which was on the outside, so that it should fall with a gentle rustle, resembling that of a mouse, between shutter and glass.

   1878, Thomas Hardy, chapter 11, in The Return of the Native

   Lady Bullingdon could not, of course, countenance such an arrangement for a moment, and the two unhappy persons escaped for a clandestine marriage.

   1912, G. K. Chesterton, chapter 9, in Manalive

   Bodies were always a nuisance -- even the small guinea-pig bodies from the slight clandestine experiments in West’s room at the boarding-house.

   1922, H. P. Lovecraft, Herbert West: Reanimator

   Synonyms: covert, furtive, hush-hush, secret, secretive, undercover, abstruse, behind the scenes

2. FreemasonryNot recognized as a regular member.