Clandestine

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /klænˈdɛst(a)ɪn/

Definitions

1. Done in secret or concealed to avoid detection or legal consequences
2. conducted secretively or hidden deliberately to evade notice and maintain confidentiality
3. kept deliberately concealed and operating in secret to circumvent observation or official awareness

Etymology: Latin "clandestinus" meant "secret, concealed," and it was built from "clam," "secretly" or "in secret," the same root behind the Latin word for "to hide." The suffix "-inus" simply marks the adjective. In the Roman world, then, the word described something done out of sight, with no hint of the illicit or scandalous quality it often carries now. The word passed into English through French, where "clandestin" kept the same sense of hidden or covert. English speakers borrowed it with that concealed meaning intact, and it has stayed close to its Latin core ever since. Its meaning has not drifted far, which makes it a useful example of a formal borrowing that kept its original sense.

Synonyms: secret, covert, hidden, surreptitious, furtive

Antonyms: overt, public, open, known, transparent