clandestine
adjective
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Psst!—if your first instinct, upon being asked what you’ve been up to, is to clam up, your querier may suspect you’ve been involved in some clandestine activities. Clandestine often substitutes for secret and covert, and it is commonly applied to actions that involve secrecy maintained for an evil, illicit, or unauthorized purpose, as in "clandestine activities pursued under cover of night." It comes to English by way of Middle French, from the Latin word clandestinus, which is itself from the Latin adverb clam, meaning "secretly." Note that this clam is not the ancestor of the English word clam, despite how tightly sealed and thus secretive the bivalves may seem.
Synonyms
Examples of clandestine in a Sentence
Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, 1988
The CIA's great innovation has been to concentrate in peacetime on 'covert action'—that is, the use of clandestine means to challenge policies and regimes in other countries.
—Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Cycles of American History, 1986
And Pym was in London for a conference—no, he wasn't, he was attending a three-day course on the latest methods of clandestine communication in a beastly little training house off Smith Square.
—John le Carré, A Perfect Spy, 1986
I took a clandestine peek at the price tag on the diamond necklace.
Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY, 17 Aug. 2024
As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, the clandestine off-market deal was inked for a whopping $96 million.
—Wendy Bowman, Robb Report, 13 Aug. 2024
Nick Offerman and real-life wife Megan Mullally joined this season’s cast as Gene and Jean, the married and murderous leaders of a clandestine association who predict an upcoming reckoning.
—Zoe G. Phillips, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Aug. 2024
Barre always seemed wilder than the town where I was born, whose main industry is the comparatively clandestine manufacture of semiconductor chips.
—Ellyn Gaydos, Harper's Magazine, 25 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for clandestine 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'clandestine.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Clandestine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clandestine. Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.
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clandestine
adjective
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