stealth
/stɛlθ/
stealth noun: the attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy, or in such a way that the actions are unnoticed or difficult to detect by others.
Noun
stealth (countable and uncountable, plural stealths)
- The attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy, or in such a way that the actions are unnoticed or difficult to detect by others.
- An act of secrecy, especially one involving thievery.
- Claudio.[...] But it chances
The stealth of our most mutuall entertainment
With Character too grosse, is writ on Iuliet.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]... - [The King] thinks it fit[...] that restitution according to this order be made to the petitioners for stealths committed upon them last winter (273).1877, George Hill, An Historical Account of the Plantation in Ulster at the Commencement of the Seventeenth Century, M'Caw, Stevenson & Orr, page 352
- Claudio.[...] But it chances
Verb
stealth (third-person singular simple present stealths, present participle stealthing, simple past and past participle stealthed)
- To conceal or infiltrate through the use of stealth.
- To subject (someone) to stealthing (sexual intercourse without a condom through deception, for example removing the condom mid-act).
- For her, there's a clear link between this behavior and that of avowed stealthers: : both stem from a place of sexism and misogyny, and to the extent that they differ, it's only by degree. Tellingly, Davis's work treats deception as merely one of several ways that men engage in the behavior she...2018 November 6, Lux Alptraum, Faking It: The Lies Women Tell about Sex--And the Truths They Reveal, Seal Press, →ISBN
- [He] tried to stealth her but Nikki checked him quick. “Unh-unh. You better strap up.” “Word?” “Word nigga.” “A'ight, a'ight.” Justus slid a condom on and entered Nikki real slow.2019 January 29, Shaun Sinclair, Blood Ties, Dafina, →ISBN
Adjective
stealth (not comparable)
- Surreptitious; secret; not openly acknowledged.
- Having properties that diminish radar signatures.
- Hiding one's transgender status (in general or in specific areas of one's life, e.g. at work) after transition.
- go stealth; be stealth; live stealth
- Lynn is a noted computer scienƟst and distnguished professor emerita of engineering who transitoned from male to female (MTF) in the 1960s and then lived “stealth,” or closeted about her transgender status, before coming out in 2000[…]2009 September 30, Joanne Herman, Transgender Explained for Those Who Are Not, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 15
- Synonyms:
- closeted
stealth meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Telugu and Malayalam
stealth in Tamil
- இரகசிய நடவடிக்கைகள்
stealth in Bengali
- গোপনতা, অলক্ষিত গতিবিধি
stealth in Telugu
- stealth, theft, rape
- హరణము haraṇamu
stealth in Malayalam
- കളവ്, രഹസ്യം, കളളത്തരം, പ്രച്ഛന്നത
More languagesFewer languages
- stealth in Kannada
- ಸ್ಟೆಲ್ತ್
- stealth in Persian
- پنهانکار penhân-kâr
Examples of stealth in a sentence
- For her, there's a clear link between this behavior and that of avowed stealthers: : both stem from a place of sexism and misogyny, and to the extent that they differ, it's only by degree.2018 November 6, Lux Alptraum, Faking It: The Lies Women Tell about Sex--And the Truths They Reveal, Seal Press, →ISBN:
- I'd seen him put it on and take it off afterward, so it wasn't like he'd tried to stealth me.2019 November 5, Iris Morland, Oopsie Daisy: A Steamy Romantic Comedy: Professor Student Accidental Pregnancy Romance, Blue Violet Press...
- In Australia, one in three women and one in five men [...] in 2018 said they had been stealthed.2021 December 24, Brianna Chesser, Nadia David, April Zahra, Consent, Stealthing and Desire-Based Contracting in the Criminal Law...
- For example a sex worker complained about a client who 'stealthed' her by removing a condom and prosecuted him for rape.2021 November 9, Rosie Campbell, Teela Sanders, Sex Work and Hate Crime: Innovating Policy, Practice and Theory, Springer Nature, →ISBN:
Synonyms of stealth
Forms of stealth
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | stealths |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | stealths |
| present participle | stealthing |
| past participle | stealthed |
| past | stealthed |
Origin of stealth
From Middle English stelthe, from Old English stǣlþ, from Proto-Germanic *stēliþō, to Proto-Germanic *stelaną (“to steal, to sneak”) + *-iþō, equivalent to steal + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Compare Old English stalu (“theft, stealth”), Old High German stāla (“theft”), German Diebstahl (“theft”).
Words formed from stealth
Phrases with stealth
Words that rhyme with stealth
Questions about stealth
- What does stealth mean?
- Stealth means the attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy, or in such a way that the actions are unnoticed or difficult to detect by others.
- What is stealth in Tamil?
- Stealth in Tamil is இரகசிய நடவடிக்கைகள். See Stealth meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use stealth in a sentence?
- For her, there's a clear link between this behavior and that of avowed stealthers: : both stem from a place of sexism and misogyny, and to the extent that they differ, it's only by degree.
- What part of speech is stealth?
- Stealth can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce stealth?
- Stealth is pronounced /stɛlθ/.
- What is the plural of stealth?
- The plural of stealth is stealths.
Words near stealth in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: stealth (page history and authors); stealth (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stealth (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); హరణము (Telugu) (page history and authors); stealth (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stealth (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-stealth.ogg.
Cite this entry: “stealth.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stealth. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.