adj ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Having an inclination to secrecy.

   "She's a secretive girl, not giving away much about her life."

2. 2
   Relating to secretion not-comparable

Adjective

1. 1
   inclined to secrecy or reticence about divulging information wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

closemouthedabstruseclandestinecloak-and-daggercloseclose

Antonyms

All antonyms

overt

Example

More examples

"Roy is secretive and Ted is candid."

Etymology

From Middle English secretife, equivalent to secret + -ive.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.