secret of Polichinelle
secret of Polichinelle noun: a supposed secret known to everyone.
Noun
secret of Polichinelle (plural secrets of Polichinelle)
- A supposed secret known to everyone.
- In October and November 1910 there was a great secret of Polichinelle. Conceivably we may learn from some future historian even more about it than we knew at the time.1915, Frederick Scott Oliver, Ordeal by Battle
- It is said that Polst fell because he revealed in an unlucky interview the Secret of Polichinelle, the secret which all the world knew, the secret that there was a claque at the Metropolitan Opera House.1926, W. J. Thorold, Arthur Hornblow, Perriton Maxwell, Stewart Beach, editors, Theatre magazine, volumes 43-44
- Synonyms:
- open secret
Synonyms of secret of Polichinelle
Forms of secret of Polichinelle
| plural | secrets of Polichinelle |
|---|
Origin of secret of Polichinelle
Calque of French secret de Polichinelle.
Questions about secret of Polichinelle
- What does secret of Polichinelle mean?
- Secret of Polichinelle means a supposed secret known to everyone.
- What part of speech is secret of Polichinelle?
- Secret of Polichinelle is a noun.
- What is the plural of secret of Polichinelle?
- The plural of secret of Polichinelle is secrets of Polichinelle.
Words near secret of Polichinelle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: secret of Polichinelle (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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