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Psst!—if your first instinct, upon being asked what you’ve been up to, is to clam up, your querier may suspect you’ve been involved in some clandestine activities. Clandestine often substitutes for secret and covert, and it is commonly applied to actions that involve secrecy maintained for an evil, illicit, or unauthorized purpose, as in "clandestine activities pursued under cover of night." It comes to English by way of Middle French, from the Latin word clandestinus, which is itself from the Latin adverb clam, meaning "secretly." Note that this clam is not the ancestor of the English word clam, despite how tightly sealed and thus secretive the bivalves may seem.
Examples of clandestine in a Sentence
Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, 1988
The CIA's great innovation has been to concentrate in peacetime on 'covert action'—that is, the use of clandestine means to challenge policies and regimes in other countries.
—Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Cycles of American History, 1986
And Pym was in London for a conference—no, he wasn't, he was attending a three-day course on the latest methods of clandestine communication in a beastly little training house off Smith Square.
—John le Carré, A Perfect Spy, 1986
I took a clandestine peek at the price tag on the diamond necklace.
Lillian Fishman,
New Yorker,
27 June 2026
In 2023, an investigation by the Intercept Brasil revealed that Gabriel shared real-time information with police via clandestine WhatsApp and Slack channels.
—
Harry Booth,
Time,
26 June 2026
Some may be announced publicly; others may happen in more clandestine ways.
—
Eben Novy-Williams,
Sportico.com,
10 June 2026
But clandestine flows aren’t the biggest factor behind the market calm.
—
Matt Egan,
CNN Money,
9 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for clandestine
Cite this Entry
“Clandestine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clandestine. Accessed 2 Jul. 2026.
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clandestine
adjective
