surreptitious

adjective

sur·​rep·​ti·​tious ˌsər-əp-ˈti-shəs 

ˌsə-rəp-,

sə-ˌrep-

1

: done, made, or acquired by stealth : clandestine

2

: acting or doing something clandestinely : stealthy

a surreptitious glance

surreptitiously adverb

Synonyms

• backstairs
• behind-the-scenes
• clandestine
• covert
• furtive
• hole-and-corner
• hugger-mugger
• hush-hush
• private
• privy
• secret
• sneak
• sneaking
• sneaky
• stealth
• stealthy
• undercover
• underground
• underhand
• underhanded

Choose the Right Synonym for surreptitious

secret, covert, stealthy, furtive, clandestine, surreptitious, underhanded mean done without attracting observation.

secret implies concealment on any grounds for any motive.

met at a secret location

covert stresses the fact of not being open or declared.

covert intelligence operations

stealthy suggests taking pains to avoid being seen or heard especially in some misdoing.

the stealthy step of a burglar

furtive implies a sly or cautious stealthiness.

lovers exchanging furtive glances

clandestine implies secrecy usually for an evil, illicit, or unauthorized purpose and often emphasizes the fear of being discovered.

a clandestine meeting of conspirators

surreptitious applies to action or behavior done secretly often with skillful avoidance of detection and in violation of custom, law, or authority.

the surreptitious stockpiling of weapons

underhanded stresses fraud or deception.

an underhanded trick

Examples of surreptitious in a Sentence

The letter didn't offer up the jewels, only shadowy suggestions about their disappearance, claiming that [heiress, Carolyn] Skelly, in a surreptitious trading of parcels with "a man in an ankle-length tweed overcoat," had left a bag full of jewelry on the floor at J.F.K. —Mark Seal, Vanity Fair, December 2001

In the early evening as we gathered in the lobby beneath mounted elk heads and bear skins, the lights of the chandelier flickered mysteriously. But the teacher and I both spied the surreptitious action of the desk clerk, whose sheepish smile acknowledged that one brief hotel mystery had been solved. Other signs of pranking there included a "ghost" photo (displayed in a lobby album) that the clerk confided to me was staged, and some pennies, placed on the back of a men's room toilet, that from time to time would secretly become rearranged to form messages—like the word "why?" that I encountered. —Joe Nickell, Skeptical Inquirer, September/October 2000

The next week offered [FBI agent] Wiser the opportunity he had been waiting for. Ames was leaving the country, going to Ankara for a weeklong international conference on drugs. Wiser went to Bryant for permission to run a … surreptitious search of Ames' garbage. But the chief was dead set against it. —Tim Weiner et al., Rolling Stone, 29 June 1995

She had a surreptitious relationship with her employee.

a private investigator adept at taking surreptitious pictures of adulterous couples

Recent Examples on the Web

The center, which opened in 2022, is responsible for deciphering, and defeating, surreptitious efforts to rig or tilt the American vote. —David D. Kirkpatrick, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024

Prince cites a conversation with Atlantic CEO (and former WIRED editor in chief) Nick Thompson as inspiration for the project; Thompson had discussed how many different publishers had encountered surreptitious web scrapers. —Kate Knibbs, WIRED, 23 Sep. 2024

And there are plenty of other athletes who have sought to gain a slight edge, surreptitious or otherwise, through their own ingenuity. —Susan Baek, NBC News, 9 Aug. 2024

Misty was a friendless creep, hence her surreptitious dismantling of the plane’s black box to prolong her adventure with the popular girls and her beloved coach. —Judy Berman, TIME, 2 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Latin surrepticius, from surreptus, past participle of surripere to snatch secretly, from sub- + rapere to seize — more at rapid

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

surreptitious

adjective

sur·​rep·​ti·​tious ˌsər-əp-ˈtish-əs 

ˌsə-rəp-

: done, made, or acquired in secret

surreptitiously adverb

surreptitiousness noun