secret service

noun

|Updated on: 15 Jun 2018

Definition of secret service

1 : a governmental service of a secret nature

2 capitalized both Ss : a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security chiefly in charge of stopping crimes against the nation's financial system and protecting the president and other national officials and visiting world leaders

See secret service defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of secret service from the Web

For the players who are pretending to be the secret service, the best skin to wear is John Wick.

— patricia hernandez, The Verge, "Fortnite players are pretending to protect the president, and it’s amazing," 8 June 2018
In his address to the National Rifle Association last weekend, President Trump criticized gun-free zones while his secret service discordantly made the convention a gun-free zone for his safety.

— priya satia, The New Republic, "What Mass Shootings and Big Data Have in Common," 10 May 2018
Or doing just about anything (changing a heaping diaper!) other than arguing with the fact checker about whether the bomb sniffing dogs used by the secret service were German Shepherds or Belgian Malinois.

— amy chozick, Glamour, "I Put Off Having a Baby to Cover Hillary Clinton's Campaign—and I Don't Regret It," 24 Apr. 2018
What's undisputed is four lives have been taken at the hands of a gunman, who was previously arrested by the secret service.

— tanya a. christian, Essence.com, "Here's What We Know About The 4 Lives Taken In The Waffle House Shooting," 24 Apr. 2018
In 1995, he was recruited by the British secret service MI6, and reportedly handed over details of up to 300 Russian agents working abroad.

— fred weir, The Christian Science Monitor, "Russia eyed in UK spy poisoning case. But why would the Kremlin do it?," 12 Mar. 2018
Also, Ivanka Trump is here with a swarm of secret service personnel.

— scott cacciola, New York Times, "John Shuster and the U.S. Curling Team Win First Gold Medal," 25 Feb. 2018
Cox plays Rachel Marron, a pop music superstar who enlists the help of a former secret service agent, Frank Farmer (Judson Mills), after a stalker sends her death threats.

— john monaghan, Detroit Free Press, "Canadian R&B singer Deborah Cox takes on Whitney Houston role in 'The Bodyguard'," 13 Jan. 2018
In this week’s premiere, the queen’s cousin, Mary, queen of Scots, gets caught by that first Elizabeth’s secret service. 10 p.m. Sunday, WHYY12.

— ellen gray, Philly.com, "TV picks: 'A.P. Bio,' Nas plays Kennedy Center,' 'Absentia,' and more," 26 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'secret service.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of secret service

1706

in the meaning defined at sense 1

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SECRET SERVICE Defined for English Language Learners

secret service

noun

Definition of secret service for English Language Learners

the Secret Service : a U.S. government department in charge of protecting elected leaders of the U.S. and visiting leaders
: a government department that protects a country's secrets and obtains secret information about other countries