surreptitious

adjective sur·rep·ti·tious \ ˌsər-əp-ˈti-shəs , ˌsə-rəp- , sə-ˌrep- \

Definition of surreptitious

1 :done, made, or acquired by stealth :clandestine

2 :acting or doing something clandestinely :stealthy

a surreptitious glance

—

surreptitiously

adverb

See surreptitious defined for English-language learners

See surreptitious defined for kids

Examples of surreptitious in a Sentence

The letter didn't offer up the jewels, only shadowy suggestions about their disappearance, claiming that [heiress, Carolyn] Skelly, in a surreptitious trading of parcels with "a man in an ankle-length tweed overcoat," had left a bag full of jewelry on the floor at J.F.K. —Mark Seal, Vanity Fair, December 2001
In the early evening as we gathered in the lobby beneath mounted elk heads and bear skins, the lights of the chandelier flickered mysteriously. But the teacher and I both spied the surreptitious action of the desk clerk, whose sheepish smile acknowledged that one brief hotel mystery had been solved. Other signs of pranking there included a "ghost" photo (displayed in a lobby album) that the clerk confided to me was staged, and some pennies, placed on the back of a men's room toilet, that from time to time would secretly become rearranged to form messages—like the word "why?" that I encountered. —Joe Nickell, Skeptical Inquirer, September/October 2000
The next week offered [FBI agent] Wiser the opportunity he had been waiting for. Ames was leaving the country, going to Ankara for a weeklong international conference on drugs. Wiser went to Bryant for permission to run a … surreptitious search of Ames' garbage. But the chief was dead set against it. —Tim Weiner et al., Rolling Stone, 29 June 1995
She had a surreptitious relationship with her employee.
a private investigator adept at taking surreptitious pictures of adulterous couples

Recent Examples of surreptitious from the Web

Michael Phillips on George A. Romero's legacy (plus a few surreptitious drive-in memories) »

— michael phillips, chicagotribune.com, "Great work of Shepard, Moreau, Landau and Romero lives on," 3 Aug. 2017
The office has no public waiting room, so there’s no risk of the surreptitious camera-phone shot.

— kenzie bryant, Vanities, "How the Trump Era Has Wreaked Havoc on Washington’s Plastic Surgery Schedules," 2 Aug. 2017
The office has no public waiting room, so there’s no risk of the surreptitious camera-phone shot.

— kenzie bryant, vanityfair.com, "How the Trump Era Has Wreaked Havoc on Washington’s Plastic Surgery Schedules," 2 Aug. 2017
Given Stanton's high profile as the All-Star Game's hometown hero, his exit from the game was a bit surreptitious.

— CBS News, "Home Run Derby sluggers fizzle in MLB All-Star Game," 12 July 2017
These denials, Nutt suggests, were part of a surreptitious strategy on the part of Ole Miss officials to delude and confuse journalists.

— michael mccann, SI.com, "Examining Houston Nutt's complicated lawsuit against Ole Miss," 12 July 2017
For instance, a program that starts encrypting files without showing a progress bar on the screen could be flagged for surreptitious activity, said Fabian Wosar, chief technology officer at the New Zealand security company Emsisoft.

— anick jesdanun, The Seattle Times, "How artificial intelligence is taking on ransomware," 28 June 2017
Perlmutter has filed a cross-complaint over the surreptitious collection of his DNA.

— eriq gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, "In Non-Trump Lawsuit, Trump Lawyer Accuses Trump Friend of Obstruction," 16 June 2017
But the term usually refers to the act of providing confidential information to the public in a surreptitious way and without official authorization.

— charlie savage, New York Times, "Trump Calls Comey a ‘Leaker.’ What Does That Mean?," 9 June 2017

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

Origin and Etymology of surreptitious

Middle English, from Latin surrepticius, from surreptus, past participle of surripere to snatch secretly, from sub- + rapere to seize — more at rapid

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

See Words from the same year

surreptitious Synonyms

Synonyms

backstairs, behind-the-scenes, clandestine, covert, furtive, hole-and-corner, hugger-mugger, hush-hush, private, privy, sneak, sneaking, sneaky, stealth, stealthy, secret, undercover, underground, underhand, underhanded

Antonyms

open, overt, public

Related Words

back-channel, closed-door, off-the-books, off-the-record; classified, confidential, restricted, top secret, undisclosed; concealed, hidden, secreted, subterranean, unadvertised, unexposed

Near Antonyms

acknowledged, avowed; aboveboard, straightforward, unconcealed, undisguised; unclassified, unrestricted; clear, evident, manifest, obvious, patent, plain

Synonym Discussion of surreptitious

secret, covert, stealthy, furtive, clandestine, surreptitious, underhanded mean done without attracting observation. secret implies concealment on any grounds for any motive.