Did you know?
If you guessed that the secret to the origins of secrete is the word secret, you are correct. Secrete developed in the mid-18th century as an alteration of a now obsolete verb secret. That verb had the meaning now carried by secrete and derived from the familiar noun secret ("something kept hidden or unexplained"). The noun, in turn, traces back to the Latin secretus, the past participle of the verb secernere, meaning "to separate" or "to distinguish." Incidentally, there is an earlier and distinct verb secrete with the more scientific meaning "to form and give off (a secretion)." That secrete is a back-formation from secretion, another word that can be traced back to secernere.
Examples of secrete in a Sentence
Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 30 Jan. 2024
The mayor of Birmingham, a young Black man named Randall Woodfin, secreted away a Confederate obelisk from Linn Park to an undisclosed location, and gladly accepted the fine—twenty-five thousand dollars—when the state sued Birmingham.
—Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
Adlon knows how to walk that fine line between sweet and vulgar, which comes in handy here since Glazer and Rabinowitz’s script is determined to milk every ounce of humor out of every ounce of bodily fluid that may be spilled, squirted or secreted by expectant moms.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 10 Mar. 2024
At its most basic, the chemtrails conspiracy theory posits that contrails are not created by water vapor at all, but instead are a sign that the government, the wealthy, or some mix of the two, is secreting toxic chemicals into the air, creating these white lines.
—Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 12 Mar. 2024
The case went cold until undercover officers followed Lazarus and secreted away a sample of her saliva.
—Christina Coulter, Fox News, 18 Feb. 2024
One of her friends is delighted to find a diamond secreted inside a tube of toothpaste.
—Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Dec. 2023
Neurons in the hindbrain, sitting at the base of the skull, secrete their own GLP-1, while receptors listening to them are found throughout the brain.
—Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 5 Mar. 2024
San Miguel is a perfect place for peaceful walks past magnificent private homes secreted behind humble neocolonial facades, for whiling away hours in quiet corners of the Bosque de Chapultepec, or for sipping hibiscus mead brewed right here in the city, a specialty at Masala y Maíz.
—Michael Snyder, Travel + Leisure, 27 Nov. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'secrete.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near secrete
Cite this Entry
“Secrete.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secrete. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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