clandestine
Syllables: clan·des·tine/klænˈdɛst(a)ɪn/
clandestine adjective: done or kept in secret, sometimes to conceal an illicit or improper purpose.
Adjective
clandestine (comparative more clandestine, superlative most clandestine)
- Done or kept in secret, sometimes to conceal an illicit or improper purpose.
- clandestine military operations
- Monimia, who while she yielded to his earnest entreaties had always felt, from the natural rectitude of her understanding, the impropriety of their clandestine correspondence, would, he feared, be more than ever sensible of her indiscretion, when she found that a servant was entrusted with it...1793, Charlotte Smith, chapter 1, in The Old Manor House, volume 3
- Synonyms:
- covert, furtive, hush-hush, secret, secretive, undercover, abstruse, behind the scenes, catlike, backroom
- Not recognized as a regular member.
clandestine meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
clandestine in Tamil
- ஒளிவு மறைவான, கள்ளத் தனமான, கள்ளத்தனமான, திருட்டுத் தனமான
clandestine in Urdu
- مخفی, پنہاں, سربستہ
clandestine in Malayalam
- covert, secret, furtive
- രഹസ്യമായ, പ്രച്ഛന്നം, ഗൂഢം, ഒളിവായ, ഗുപ്തമായ, നിഗൂഢമായ
clandestine in Kannada
- ಕಳ್ಳಾಟಿಕೆಯ, ಗುಟ್ಟಿನ, ಮುಚ್ಚುಮರೆಯ, ರಹಸ್ಯದ, ಗುಟ್ಟಾದ, ಗುಪ್ತ
More languagesFewer languages
- clandestine in Sanskrit
- रहस्य rahasya
- clandestine in Arabic
- سري sirri
- clandestine in Indonesian
- klandestin, diam-diam
- clandestine in Vietnamese
- bí mật
Examples of clandestine in a sentence
- Whether the torments of absence were softened by a clandestine correspondence, let us not inquire.1818, Jane Austen, chapter 31, in Northanger Abbey:
- Lady Bullingdon could not, of course, countenance such an arrangement for a moment, and the two unhappy persons escaped for a clandestine marriage.1912, G. K. Chesterton, chapter 9, in Manalive:
- Bodies were always a nuisance -- even the small guinea-pig bodies from the slight clandestine experiments in West’s room at the boarding-house.1922, H. P. Lovecraft, Herbert West: Reanimator:
- Probably, the Master-at-arms' clandestine persecution of Billy was started to try the temper of the man...1924, Herman Melville, chapter 13, in Billy Budd:
Synonyms of clandestine
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- backstairs
- stealth
- cloak-and-dagger
- concealed
- confidential
- deep-laid
- dern
- disguised
- huggermugger
- inconspicuous
- incognito
- low profile
- lurksome
- lurky
- mousy
- obfuscated
- off-the-books
- on the down-low
- on the sly
- slinky
- sly
- sneaky
- stealthy
- sub rosa
- surreptitious
- under-the-table
- under the radar
- under wraps
- underground
- unperceived
Forms of clandestine
| comparative | more clandestine |
|---|---|
| superlative | most clandestine |
Origin of clandestine
From Latin clandestīnus (“secret, concealed”); compare French clandestin.
Words formed from clandestine
Words that rhyme with clandestine
Questions about clandestine
- What does clandestine mean?
- Clandestine means done or kept in secret, sometimes to conceal an illicit or improper purpose.
- What is clandestine in Tamil?
- Clandestine in Tamil is ஒளிவு மறைவான, கள்ளத் தனமான, கள்ளத்தனமான. See Clandestine meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use clandestine in a sentence?
- Whether the torments of absence were softened by a clandestine correspondence, let us not inquire.
- What part of speech is clandestine?
- Clandestine is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce clandestine?
- Clandestine is pronounced /klænˈdɛst(a)ɪn/.
Words near clandestine in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: clandestine (page history and authors); clandestine (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clandestine (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clandestine (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); clandestine (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-clandestine.ogg, en-au-clandestine.ogg.
Cite this entry: “clandestine.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clandestine. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.