surreptitious
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin surrēptīcius (“furtive, clandestine”), from surrēpō (“to creep along”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˌsʌɹɪpˈtɪʃəs/
- (US) IPA(key): /səˌɹɛpˈtɪʃəs/, /ˌsʌɹəpˈtɪʃəs/, /ˌsɛɹəpˈtɪʃəs/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪʃəs
Adjective
surreptitious (comparative more surreptitious, superlative most surreptitious)
- Stealthy, furtive, well hidden, covert (especially movements).
- 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
- He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.
- 1998, Lee A. Bygrave, “Data Protection Pursuant to the Right to Privavy in Human Rights Treaties”, in International Journal of Law and Information Technology, volume 6, number 3, pages 260–261:
- It is also worth noting the case law on prisoners' correspondence which establishes that interception of a person's communications need not be surreptitious in order to amount to an interference with respect to Art 8 (1) [ECHR].
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Synonyms
- See Thesaurus:covert
Derived terms
- surreptitiously
- surreptitiousness
Related terms
- subreption
- surreptition