- [countable] something that is known about by only a few people and not told to others
- Can you keep a secret?
- She will not reveal his secret.
- The location of the ship is a closely guarded secret.
- This bar is one of central London's best/worst kept secrets.
- Shall we let him in on (= tell him) the secret?
- He made no secret of his ambition (= he didn't try to hide it).
- It's no secret that the past few years have been challenging for the industry.
- dark secrets from his past
- The dirty little secret of gaming is how much time you spend not having fun.
- Let me tell you a secret.
Extra Examples- How did the secret get out?
- I have no secrets from you.
- Their relationship remained a secret.
- That evening she had revealed many of her innermost secrets.
- He refuses to make any secret of his political allegiances.
- There was some secret about the source of his wealth.
- Uncle Charlie hides a dark secret.
- a charming museum that is one of the city's best-kept secrets
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- big
- great
- little
- …
- have
- guard
- keep
- …
- be out
- come out
- get out
- …
- in secret
- secret about
- secret from
- …
- make no secret of the fact that…
- not make a secret of something
- (usually the secret)[singular] the best or only way to achieve something; the way a particular person achieves something
- She still looks so young. What's her secret?
- secret of something Careful planning is the secret of success.
- secret to doing something These animals may hold the secret to combating the virus.
- secret to something The secret to happiness is love.
- What is the secret to their success?
Extra ExamplesTopics Successb1- She revealed the secret behind her extraordinary success.
- the secrets of staying healthy
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverb + secret- reveal
- tell somebody
- know
- …
- secret behind
- secret of
- the secret of (somebody’s) success
- [countable, usually plural] a thing that is not yet fully understood or that is difficult to understand
- the secrets of the universe
- He spent much of his childhood here, learning the secrets of the woods.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverb + secret- reveal
- tell somebody
- know
- …
- secret behind
- secret of
- the secret of (somebody’s) success
Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French, from Latin secretus (adjective) ‘separate, set apart’, from the verb secernere, from se- ‘apart’ + cernere ‘sift’.
Idioms
See secret in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee secret in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishbe an open secret
- if something is an open secret, many people know about it, although it is supposed to be a secret
a guilty secret
- a secret that somebody feels ashamed about
in secret
- without other people knowing about it
- The meeting was held in secret.
- She admired him, in secret of course.
- The film stars were married in secret to avoid publicity.
Check pronunciation:
secret