Word.ws English Dictionary

down low

down low noun: a state of secrecy.

Noun

down low (countable and uncountable, plural down lows)

  1. A state of secrecy.
    • I'll tell you, but keep it on the down low.
  2. The state of being a man who secretly sleeps with people other than his partner.
    • [Chorus]:And keep it on the down low Nobody has to know.1995 December 11, “Down Low (Nobody Has to Know)”performed by R. Kelly
  3. (African-American Vernacular) The state of being a man who secretly sleeps with other men.
    • I sleep with men, but I am not bisexual, and I am certainly not gay. I am not going to your clinics, I am not going to read your brochures, I am not going to get tested. I assure you that none of the brothers on the down low like me are paying the least bit of attention to anything you have to say.2001 April 3, Linda Villarosa, “AIDS Education Is Aimed 'Down Low'”, in The New York times, page 5
  4. (African-American Vernacular) A man who secretly sleeps with other men.
    • I think it must be hard for trans men who like guys. Most gay guys don't like vaginas. […] The guys I'm interested in are down-lows, DLs.2014, Susan Kuklin, Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, Humen: Candlewick Press, published 2015, →ISBN, →LCCN, Mariah: The Real Deal, page 90

Adjective

down low (comparative more down low, superlative most down low)

  1. Undercover or lying about one's identity.
  2. (African-American Vernacular) Purporting to be heterosexual while engaged in sex with men.

Forms of down low

Noun
pluraldown lows
alternative formdown-low
alternative formdownlow
Adjective
comparativemore down low
superlativemost down low

Words formed from down low

Questions about down low

What does down low mean?
Down low means a state of secrecy.
What part of speech is down low?
Down low can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of down low?
The plural of down low is down lows.

Words near down low in the dictionary

  1. down in the mouth
  2. down jacket
  3. down jackets
  4. down line
  5. down lines
  6. down low
  7. down lows
  8. down mattress
  9. down on one's knees
  10. down on one's luck
  11. down on one's uppers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: down low (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-down low.wav.

Cite this entry: “down low.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/down_low. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.