secretive
pronunciation
How to pronounce secretive in British English:
UK [ˈsiːkrətɪv]
How to pronounce secretive in American English:
US [ˈsiːkrətɪv]
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- Adjective:
- inclined to secrecy or reticence about divulging information
Word Origin
- secretive (adj.)
- "inclined to secrecy," 1815 (implied in secretiveness); see secret (n.) + -ive. The word also was in Middle English with a sense "secret, hidden" (mid-15c.). Related: Secretively.
Example
- 1. Drug companies are notoriously secretive .
- 2. This year , it is hard to say , because both parties are so secretive .
- 3. Yet mainland chinese business leaders operate in the shadow of a secretive and unaccountable ruling party .
- 4. They serve in what is unofficially called seal team 6 , a unit so secretive that the white house and the defense department do not directly acknowledge its existence .
- 5. Iran has since been the object of intense international sanctions , campaigns of murder and sabotage , and threats of war , all on account of its secretive nuclear plans .