Surreptition
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The quality of being surreptitious: stealthiness, covertness; surreptitiousness. uncountable, usually
"They have found a way to continue drinking both furiously and yet with a certain degree of surreptition. The Australians near to the fence slice through the bonds keeping the wrists of the Tommies strapped to the posts. The first couple of ..."
- 2 Subreption (act of obtaining by surprise, or by unfair representation through concealment). uncountable, usually
"If any order shall be made, and the court not informed of the last material order formerly made, no benefit shall be taken by such order, as granted by abuse and surreptition, and to that end the registers ought duly to mention the former ..."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"They have found a way to continue drinking both furiously and yet with a certain degree of surreptition. The Australians near to the fence slice through the bonds keeping the wrists of the Tommies strapped to the posts. The first couple of ..."
Etymology
Sense 1, at least, is probably a back-formation from surreptitious; for sense 2, compare the cognate synonym subreption.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.