secret society

plural secret societies

1. A club, fraternal organization, or other association which admits only selected individuals as members, whose meetings and practices are often ritualistic and not public, and which often has the purpose of furthering the social or economic opportunities of its members.

   Originally a secret society, B'nai B'rith came into the open in 1920 with publication of its ritual.

   1937 May 3, “Germany: Hitler v. Everybody”, in Time

   3 more examples

   Ben had much fun out of it, assuring the other boys that those were the signs and password of a secret society to which he and Sam belonged.

   1879, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 22, in Under the Lilacs

   But these Brothers of Pity were a secret society, known to no man except their spiritual head, who chose them in turn, and not knowing even each other.

   1903, Joseph Conrad, chapter 6, in Romance

   In the opening scenes of "The Good Shepherd," the hero (played by Matt Damon) is initiated into Skull and Bones, Yale's iconic secret society, by lowering himself naked into a coffin to confess his deepest secrets.

   2007 January 14, “Spycraft as Thespianage”, in Newsweek, retrieved 14 Jun 2011

2. SingaporeA criminal gang.

   […] obedience and loyalty were also 'important bywords' to the Ghee Hin, Ghee Hok and Ho Seng secret societies […]

   2023, Narayanan Ganapathy, Gangs and Minorities in Singapore: Masculinity, Marginalization and Resistance, Bristol University Press, →ISBN