1
as in shady
given to acting in secret and to concealing one's intentions
a furtive guy who always seems to be up to something, and usually that something is no-good
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in clandestine
undertaken or done so as to escape being observed or known by others
gave each other furtive glances as we watched our friend open the booby-trapped soda
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of furtive
Over the past decade, furtive commercial entities around the world have industrialized the production, sale and dissemination of bogus scholarly research.
—
Cyril Labbé, The Conversation, 31 Jan. 2025
Over the past decade, furtive commercial entities around the world have industrialized the production, sale and dissemination of bogus scholarly research, undermining the literature that everyone from doctors to engineers rely on to make decisions about human lives.
—Guillaume Cabanac, The Conversation, 29 Jan. 2025
At home, the atmosphere was decorous, curious, gentle; outside, the culture of the nineteen-fifties was tougher, valorizing war and papering over a darker, more furtive kind of violence.
—Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker, 25 Jan. 2025
The secret-weapon character who makes the more haunting impression is Agnes, whose chignon hides a rebellious spirit underneath — as well as a furtive romance with the stable boy, Isak (Malte Gårdinger).
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 24 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for furtive
Cyril Labbé, The Conversation, 31 Jan. 2025
Over the past decade, furtive commercial entities around the world have industrialized the production, sale and dissemination of bogus scholarly research, undermining the literature that everyone from doctors to engineers rely on to make decisions about human lives.
—Guillaume Cabanac, The Conversation, 29 Jan. 2025
At home, the atmosphere was decorous, curious, gentle; outside, the culture of the nineteen-fifties was tougher, valorizing war and papering over a darker, more furtive kind of violence.
—Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker, 25 Jan. 2025
The secret-weapon character who makes the more haunting impression is Agnes, whose chignon hides a rebellious spirit underneath — as well as a furtive romance with the stable boy, Isak (Malte Gårdinger).
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 24 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for furtive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for furtive
Adjective
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The mood shifts from shady to straight-up scandalous.—
Shelby Stewart,
Essence,
21 Apr. 2025
-
Instead, Fenix lost the biggest match of his young WWE career, albeit under shady circumstances, while Americano picked up a WrestleMania win.—
Blake Oestriecher,
Forbes.com,
20 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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After authorities responded with mass arrests, weavers formed clandestine committees and took secret oaths.—
John Cassidy,
New Yorker,
14 Apr. 2025
-
Til Schweiger plays a sardonic whale-tourism boat captain (and former elite military operative, obviously) who gets roped into taking down a clandestine organization that’s building the perfect super-soldier through genetic experiments.—
Jordan Crucchiola,
Vulture,
4 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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But reception took a turn for a worse when critics noticed Meta’s sly approach to ranking on LMArena, a site that ranks LLMs based on user votes.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
21 Apr. 2025
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Each plays a role in fooling their foe, who captures the turtle, while the deer, heeding the turtle’s good counsel, manages a sly escape.—
John Nemec,
The Conversation,
7 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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My network—stealthy enough that thieves often don’t even know they’re being tracked.—
Katie Jackson,
Travel + Leisure,
27 Apr. 2025
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Of course, like everything else in the defense realm, this advantage has resulted in an arms race waged over a century as navies come up with better ways to detect submarines while making their boats stealthier.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
26 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
After the unexpected death of the pope, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with running the covert process of choosing a new leader.—
Saman Shafiq,
USA Today,
22 Apr. 2025
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Those documents gave curious readers more details about Cold War-era covert U.S. operations in other nations, but did not initially lend credence to long-circulating conspiracy theories about who killed JFK.—
Josh Funk and Haya Panjwani,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Fifth-round pick Jordan Hancock could be a sneaky option to start down the line, too.—
Joe Buscaglia,
New York Times,
28 Apr. 2025
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One that’s sneaky smart is choosing our first singles off an upcoming project.—
Justin Curto,
Vulture,
28 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Former Attorney General Merrick Garland said in October that the Justice Department foiled the plot as the men bought the rifles from an undercover FBI employee.—
Krystal Nurse,
USA Today,
18 Apr. 2025
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Kasie discovers that the Poet used jeweler Gemma Wood (Michelle Lukes) as a go-between to broker deals with anonymous clients, so Torres goes undercover as the man himself since news of his death hasn't left NCIS HQ.—
Sara Netzley,
EW.com,
15 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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And the staff lined up just to say goodbye / Tiny tear in his shifty little eye.—
George Varga,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
18 Apr. 2025
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That blandness has gone hand in hand with a shifty political opportunism, marked by half-hearted representational milestones—Ariel is Black!—
Justin Chang,
The New Yorker,
22 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Furtive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/furtive. Accessed 1 May. 2025.
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