Supersecret

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Characterized by an extreme level of confidentiality and intended to remain undisclosed to the general public
2. Describing something that is highly classified or known only to a select few, keeping its information hidden
3. Pertaining to a level of secrecy that surpasses ordinary discretion, often involving sensitive or critical information

Etymology: Think of "supersecret" as a word built from two parts: the Latin "super," meaning "above" or "over," and the English "secret." Attaching "super-" to an adjective is a simple, productive move, and it means something like "more than secret," a level of concealment beyond the ordinary kind that people keep to themselves. The prefix has a long pedigree. It descends from Latin "super," which in turn traces back through Proto-Italic to the older Indo-European root for "up" or "over," the same ancestry that gives English words like "over" and "upper" their sense of height and excess. Latin used "super" both literally, for position above something, and figuratively, for surplus or superiority, and English borrowed that figurative sense for many prefixes such as "superhuman" and "superb." "Secret" itself came into English from Old French, which had taken it from Latin "secretus," meaning "set apart" or "hidden." The combination with "super-" is a modern compound, so the sense of rising above ordinary discretion is built directly from these two pieces rather than inherited from classical use.

Synonyms: top secret, classified, confidential, restricted, private

Antonyms: public, open, known, revealed, exposed