Meanings
plural stealths
- uncountableThe attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy, or in such a way that the actions are unnoticed or difficult to detect by others.
- archaiccountableAn act of secrecy, especially one involving thievery.
Claudio.[...] But it chances The stealth of our most mutuall entertainment With Character too grosse, is writ on Iuliet.
c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]1 more example
[The King] thinks it fit[...] that restitution according to this order be made to the petitioners for stealths committed upon them last winter (273).
1877, George Hill, An Historical Account of the Plantation in Ulster at the Commencement of the Seventeenth Century, M'Caw, Stevenson & Orr, page 352
present singular third person stealths · participle present stealthing · participle past stealthed · past stealthed
- especiallycomputingTo conceal or infiltrate through the use of stealth.
- slangtransitiveTo subject (someone) to stealthing (sexual intercourse without a condom through deception, for example removing the condom mid-act).
For example a sex worker complained about a client who 'stealthed' her by removing a condom and prosecuted him for rape. The court found him guilty (R v Campos).
2021 November 9, Rosie Campbell, Teela Sanders, Sex Work and Hate Crime: Innovating Policy, Practice and Theory, Springer Nature, →ISBN4 more examples
For her, there's a clear link between this behavior and that of avowed stealthers: : both stem from a place of sexism and misogyny, and to the extent that they differ, it's only by degree. Tellingly, Davis's work treats deception as merely one of several ways that men engage in the behavior she terms "condom use resistance." […] To the best of my knowledge, I've never been stealthed.
2018 November 6, Lux Alptraum, Faking It: The Lies Women Tell about Sex--And the Truths They Reveal, Seal Press, →ISBN[He] tried to stealth her but Nikki checked him quick. “Unh-unh. You better strap up.” “Word?” “Word nigga.” “A'ight, a'ight.” Justus slid a condom on and entered Nikki real slow.
2019 January 29, Shaun Sinclair, Blood Ties, Dafina, →ISBN[…] condom. I'd seen him put it on and take it off afterward, so it wasn't like he'd tried to stealth me. Plus, my periods had always been irregular, so I could go six weeks before it appeared. When had I last gotten it, though? I couldn't[…]
2019 November 5, Iris Morland, Oopsie Daisy: A Steamy Romantic Comedy: Professor Student Accidental Pregnancy Romance, Blue Violet Press LLCIn Australia, one in three women and one in five men [...] in 2018 said they had been stealthed. The occurrence of stealthing is not exclusive to heterosexual intercourse, and while the majority of[…]
2021 December 24, Brianna Chesser, Nadia David, April Zahra, Consent, Stealthing and Desire-Based Contracting in the Criminal Law, Routledge, →ISBN
- not comparableSurreptitious; secret; not openly acknowledged.
- not comparableaeronauticsHaving properties that diminish radar signatures.
- not comparableHiding one's transgender status (in general or in specific areas of one's life, e.g. at work) after transition.
go stealth; be stealth; live stealth
5 more examples
Lynn is a noted computer scienƟst and distnguished professor emerita of engineering who transitoned from male to female (MTF) in the 1960s and then lived “stealth,” or closeted about her transgender status, before coming out in 2000[…]
2009 September 30, Joanne Herman, Transgender Explained for Those Who Are Not, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 15They remained radical in their gender identities and not easily categorized; Darling, for example, lived “stealth” as a woman, and Curtis and Woodlawn alternated between female and male identities in different phases of their lives,[…]
2010 July 9, Jon Davies, Trash: A Queer Film Classic, ReadHowYouWant.com, →ISBN, page 35Transgender Men and the Persistence of Gender Inequality Kristen Schilt. assigned: “Some of the boys, especially if they are really ... Trey, who was stealth, was accepted at work as one of the only black men in a male-dominated field.
2011 January 15, Kristen Schilt, Just One of the Guys?: Transgender Men and the Persistence of Gender Inequality, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 85Some respondents felt very comfortable being transgender FtM, […] One participant who was stealth about their gender identity and still presented as female to some friends and family,[…]
2015 January 9, Tiffany Jones, Andrea del Pozo de Bolger, Tinashe Dune, Amy Lykins, Gail Hawkes, Female-to-Male (FtM) Transgender People’s Experiences in Australia: A National Study, Springer, →ISBN, page 97Jazz great and band leader Billy Tipton is one well-known example of a transgender person who lived “stealth” (secretly) most of his life. Born Dorothy Lucille tipton, Dorothy became “Billy” as an adolescent and, following a brief[…]
2017 March 29, David Elias Weekley, Retreating Forward: A Spiritual Practice with Transgender Persons, Wipf and Stock Publishers, →ISBN, page 13Synonyms: closeted
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveHiding one's transgender status (in general or in specific areas of one's life, e.g. at work) after transition.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*stelaną“to steal, to sneak”
- Proto-Germanic*stēliþō
- Old Englishstǣlþ
- Middle Englishstelthe
- Englishstealth
From Middle English stelthe, from Old English stǣlþ, from Proto-Germanic *stēliþō, to Proto-Germanic *stelaną (“to steal, to sneak”) + *-iþō, equivalent to steal + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Compare Old English stalu (“theft, stealth”), Old High German stāla (“theft”), German Diebstahl (“theft”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan furtivitat
- furtivitatattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
Chinese Cantonese 隱身 /隐身, 隱形 /隐形
- 隱身 /隐身 (jan² san¹)attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- 隱形 /隐形 (jan² jing⁴)attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
Chinese Mandarin 隱身 /隐身, 隱形 /隐形
- 隱身 /隐身 (yǐnshēn)attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- 隱形 /隐形 (yǐnxíng)attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
Esperanto kaŝeco
- kaŝecoattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
Finnish salamyhkäisyys, salakähmäisyys
- salamyhkäisyysattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- salakähmäisyysattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- häive-attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- häivetekniikkaattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
French furtivité, discrétion
- furtivitéattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- discrétionattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
German Heimlichkeit
- Heimlichkeitattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
Greek κλοπή, λαθραία
- κλοπή (klopí)attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- λαθραία (lathraía)attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- μυστικότητα (mystikótita)attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
Hungarian lopakodás, lopódzás
- lopakodásattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- lopódzásattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- észrevétlenségattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- álcázásattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- titkosításattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
Japanese ステルス
- ステルス (suterusu)attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
Persian پنهانکار
- پنهانکار (penhân-kâr)attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
Polish chytrość, podstęp
- chytrośćattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- podstępattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
Portuguese furtividade, sorrateiro
- furtividadeattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- sorrateiroattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
Russian хи́трость, скры́тность
- хи́трость (xítrostʹ)attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- скры́тность (skrýtnost')attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- незаме́тность (n'ezamétnost')attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
Spanish sigilo, cautela
- sigiloattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
- cautelaattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
Swedish smygeri
- smygeriattribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with stealth
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
stealth. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stealth
“stealth.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stealth. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stealth,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stealth.
Source: stealth on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.