trade secret

noun

: something (such as a formula) which has economic value to a business because it is not generally known or easily discoverable by observation and for which efforts have been made to maintain secrecy

Examples of trade secret in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In 2021, Xu was convicted by a jury in federal court of conspiring to commit economic espionage and stealing trade secrets. —Cameron Knight, The Enquirer, 2 July 2025

Meanwhile, the research also found that employees routinely paste customer records, financial data, and trade secrets into ChatGPT and similar AI services—often from personal devices the company cannot even monitor. —Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 20 June 2025

Beyond the trade secret misappropriation allegations, Flexport contends that all three defendants infringed its source code copyrights. —Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal, 24 Apr. 2025

But companies don’t need to turn over anything that would be considered a trade secret or intellectual property and the bill doesn’t apply to products that are no longer being manufactured. —Andrew Brown, Hartford Courant, 24 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1825, in the meaning defined above

Legal Definition

trade secret

noun

trade se·​cret

: a formula, process, device, or item of information used by a business that has economic value because it is not generally known or easily discovered by observation or examination and for which reasonable efforts to maintain secrecy have been made

Note: Trade secrets are a form of intellectual property. Many states have enacted laws which create an action for damages or injunctive relief against misappropriation of trade secrets by improper means. Information contained in a patent is not protected as a trade secret.