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You can’t steal someone’s heart without capturing their attention, nor can you steal someone’s thunder without hijacking their audience’s attention. But attention is something most thieves would rather avoid; whether stealing a glance or a diamond, one must be furtive or risk getting caught in the act. When first used in written English in the early 1600s, furtive meant "done by stealth." It later adopted the less common meaning "stolen" or "obtained underhandedly." Whichever meaning you choose, the word has a fittingly elusive ancestry, either stepping into English via the French furtif or coming directly from that word's ancestor, the Latin furtivus, itself a descendent of fur, meaning "thief."
Examples of furtive in a Sentence
Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe, 1999
Fall's pleasures were furtive, risky, short-lived-buckeye fights, … the endless recipes for the apples Mrs. Railsbeck asked him to fetch from the cobwebbed crate in the basement.
—Stewart O'Nan, The Names of the Dead, 1996
… it made Shepherd look furtive, wary, hunted—as if the photographer had shot him against his will, in the act of slamming the door.
—Helen Garner, The First Stone, 1995
He cast a furtive glance in our direction.
We exchanged furtive smiles across the table.
David W. Dunlap, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2025
Several of these involve a furtive religious cult known as the Scars — its adherents have a way of pussyfooting through the forest and doing absolutely horrible things to nonbelievers.
—Tom Gliatto, People.com, 12 Apr. 2025
Despite fluorescent lights, the space felt furtive.
—Hazlitt, 5 Mar. 2025
On that furtive call with Reacher, Duffy tells him the pickup truck and the Audi Richard Beck’s bodyguard were driving in the same police lot.
—Chris Klimek, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for furtive
Cite this Entry
“Furtive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/furtive. Accessed 7 May. 2025.
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furtive
adjective
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