secretive
/ˈsiːkɹɪtɪv/
secretive adjective: having an inclination to secrecy.
Adjective (1)
secretive (comparative more secretive, superlative most secretive)
- Having an inclination to secrecy.
- She's a secretive girl, not giving away much about her life.
- Why are you acting all secretive? What are you hiding?
Adjective (2)
IPA/səˈkɹiːtɪv/
secretive (not comparable)
- Relating to secretion.
secretive meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
secretive in Hindi
- secretive, designing, reticent
- घुन्ना ghunnā
secretive in Tamil
- இரகசியமான, அமுக்கமான, கமுக்கமான, மனதில் உள்ளதை மறைக்கும், மர்மம் காக்கும், கபடமான
secretive in Urdu
- secretive, confidential
- نجی najī
secretive in Bengali
- গোপনতাপ্রিয়, চাপা স্বভাবের
More languagesFewer languages
- secretive in Malayalam
- രഹസ്യങ്ങൾ സൂക്ഷിക്കാൻ താത്പര്യമുള്ള, ഒതുങ്ങിയ, സ്വകാര്യത ഇഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്ന, രഹസ്യം സൂക്ഷിക്കുന്ന
- secretive in Kannada
- ಮುಚ್ಚುಮರೆಯ, ಗುಟ್ಟಾಗಿಡಲು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಿಸುವ, ಗುಟ್ಟು ಮಾಡುವ
- secretive in Arabic
- كَتُوم katūm, مُتَحَفِّظ mutaḥaffiẓ, مُتَكَتِّم mutakattim
Examples of secretive in a sentence
- The secretive residents of the massive city-ship tended to stay inside.
- The reporter drew heavily on interviews with former members of the secretive group.
- There has been the secretive Portuguese investigation, apparently marred by infighting between police organisations.
Synonyms of secretive
Forms of secretive
| comparative | more secretive |
|---|---|
| superlative | most secretive |
Origin of secretive
From Middle English secretife, equivalent to secret + -ive.
From secrete + -ive.
Words formed from secretive
Questions about secretive
- What does secretive mean?
- Secretive means having an inclination to secrecy.
- What is secretive in Hindi?
- Secretive in Hindi is घुन्ना (ghunnā). See Secretive meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is secretive?
- Secretive is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce secretive?
- Secretive is pronounced /ˈsiːkɹɪtɪv/.
Words near secretive in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: secretive (page history and authors); घुन्ना (Hindi) (page history and authors); secretive (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); نجی (Urdu) (page history and authors); secretive (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); secretive (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); secretive (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.
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Cite this entry: “secretive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/secretive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.