hush-hush

adjective

Secret, not spoken of (or spoken of only in hushed whispers between insiders).

“The spy program was very hush-hush: no-one ever spoke of it.”

Similar
clandestinecloak-and-daggerhole-and-cornerhugger-muggersecretsurreptitiousundercoverunderground
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Meanings

adjectivehush-hush (comparative more hush-hush, superlative most hush-hush)

comparative more hush-hush · superlative most hush-hush

  1. Secret, not spoken of (or spoken of only in hushed whispers between insiders).

    The spy program was very hush-hush: no-one ever spoke of it.

    1 more example

    The sex lottery went over big in its first try with number runners selling tickets and making the entire affair a very hush-hush production.

    6 August 1953, “Jet”, in American political and entertainment news., volume 4, Johnson Publishing Company, pages 21-22
nounhush-hush (uncountable)
  1. uncountablesecrecy; covert operation

    I find a very definite policy of hush-hush here about what Japan is doing […]

    1933, The China Monthly Review, volume 67, page 64

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveconducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods

Similar
clandestinecloak-and-daggerhole-and-cornerhugger-muggersecretsurreptitiousundercoverundergroundcovert
Also see
abstruseclandestinecloak-and-daggercovertdeep-laidfurtivehole-and-cornerhugger-muggermysterioussecretsub rosasurreptitiousundercoverunderground

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Cite this entry
APA

hush-hush. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hush-hush

MLA

“hush-hush.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hush-hush. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hush-hush,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hush-hush.

Source: hush-hush on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.