Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use clandestine in a sentence

15 example sentences · adjective

Clandestine means done or kept in secret, sometimes to conceal an illicit or improper purpose. Example: “Lady Bullingdon could not, of course, countenance such an arrangement for a moment, and the two unhappy persons escaped for a clandestine marriage.”

Examples of clandestine by meaning

adjectiveDone or kept in secret, sometimes to conceal an illicit or improper purpose.

  • clandestine military operations
  • 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

More sentences with clandestine

  • It's feats like this, and the clandestine development story, that make these cars so desirable and dreamworthy.2018, Matt Avery, COPO Camaro, Chevelle & Nova: Chevrolet's Ultimate Muscle Cars, page 99. From the entry dreamworthy
  • Duchamp played a double-handed game, on one hand a public strategy on the other a clandestine commitment.2010, Gary Willis, The Key Issues Concerning Contemporary Art, →ISBN. From the entry double-handed
  • A clandestine organization named the "United Front against Persecution" emerged at the same time on the mainland.1978 January 1, “Anti-Red activities on mainland reported”, in Free China Weekly, volume XIX, number 1, Taipei, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3. From the entry Shaokuan
  • Surprise is a key ingredient in maskirovka and the clandestine forces which occupied Crimea last February certainly delivered that.2015 January 29, Lucy Ash, “How Russia outfoxes its enemies”, in BBC. From the entry maskirovka
  • If anything, the decision represents an important victory to both emerging and accomplished tenderpreneurs who have undoubtedly distinguished themselves in clandestine plundering of state resources.2010 October 24, “As Hawks fail us crooks plot anew”, in Sunday World (Sputh Africa). From the entry tenderpreneur
  • Russell's clandestine attempt to initiate diplomatic contact with the Confederacy left an image of backhandedness that substantiated Seward's direst premonitions about British self-interest.2010, Howard Jones, Blue & Gray Diplomacy: A History of Union and Confederate Foreign Relations, →ISBN, page 68. From the entry backhandedness
  • The rainbow flag, the wiphala, became the visual representation of the previously clandestine Indian nation and was carried in all public manifestations as a symbol of rebellion.2014 October 2, Marc Becker, Cases of Exclusion and Mobilization of Race and Ethnicities in Latin America, Cambridge Scholars Publishing…. From the entry rainbow flag
  • New strains of cannabis such as skunk are certainly selectively cultivated but are not "genetically modified"; there are no clandestine biotechnicians altering the DNA of cannabis plants.2009 March 22, “Letters, the big issue: The tragic costs of skunk dependency”, in The Observer. From the entry biotechnicians
  • There is a clandestine international conspiracy behind these gnome-nappings, similar in scope and complexity to those organized to perform crop circle hoaxes and stage UFO sightings.2004, Marcus Mennes, Gnome & Garden: A Gnovelty Kit, →ISBN, page 44. From the entry gnome-napping
  • It used it as a launching pad of its hit and run attacks against Yugoslavia with the full—though clandestine—support of the Bulgarian Ministry of War and Fascist Italy.2002, Samuel Vaknin, Terrorists and Freedom Fighters. From the entry hit and run
  • The monkeys reportedly are doing so well that their increasing numbers are creating a problem for nearby farmers, who are sometimes engaging in clandestine acts of monkeycide.1998 February 18, Dave Boling, “No dumb animals, these monkeys soaking in spa”, in The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash., page A8, column 4. From the entry monkeycide
  • Indian hillmen of exceptional intelligence and resource, specially trained in clandestine surveying techniques, were despatched across the frontier disguised as Muslim holy men or Buddhist pilgrims.1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 6. From the entry hillman

Meaning of clandestine

  1. adjective Done or kept in secret, sometimes to conceal an illicit or improper purpose.
  2. adjective Not recognized as a regular member.

Full definition of clandestine

Questions about clandestine in a sentence

How do you use clandestine in a sentence?
Clandestine is used as an adjective. For example: “Lady Bullingdon could not, of course, countenance such an arrangement for a moment, and the two unhappy persons escaped for a clandestine marriage.”
What is a short sentence with clandestine?
“clandestine military operations”
What does clandestine mean?
Clandestine means done or kept in secret, sometimes to conceal an illicit or improper purpose.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: clandestine (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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