Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Kept or done in secret, often to conceal an illicit or improper purpose. synonym: secret.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Secret; private; hidden; furtive; withdrawn from public view: generally implying craft, deception, or evil design.
  • Any secret marriage, but especially one contracted in defiance of the will of parents or guardians. Synonyms Latent, Covert, etc. See secret.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Conducted with secrecy; withdrawn from public notice, usually for an evil purpose; kept secret; hidden; private; underhand.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Done or kept in secret, sometimes to conceal an illicit or improper purpose.
  • adjective freemasonry Not recognized as a regular member.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin clandestīnus, probably blend of *clam-de, secretly (from clam; see kel- in Indo-European roots) and intestīnus, internal; see intestine.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French clandestin, derived from Latin clandestīnus ("secret, concealed").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word clandestine.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "The way that boy is being raised, he's gonna grow up to be a bigot", said Tom in a clandestine fashion.

    October 30, 2007

  • A Scottish family's future

    April 22, 2008

  • "Certainly, the affairs of this sort of which I have been a spectator have always been, as far as their setting is concerned, of the most imprudent and least probable character, as if such revelations were to be the reward of an action full of risk, though in part clandestine."

    --Sodom and Gomorrah by Marcel Proust, translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin, revised by D.J. Enright, p 10 of the Modern Library paperback edition

    January 22, 2009

  • This is one of Anthony Bourdain's favorite words. He uses it several times in his book "Kitchen confidential" as well as on his show "No reservations."

    February 1, 2009

  • This word I read in Night World by L.J.Smith

    October 1, 2010