surreptitious
pronunciation
How to pronounce surreptitious in British English:
UK [ˌsʌrəpˈtɪʃəs]
How to pronounce surreptitious in American English:
US [ˌsɜrəpˈtɪʃəs]
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- Adjective:
- marked by quiet and caution and secrecy; taking pains to avoid being observed
- conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods
Word Origin
- surreptitious
- surreptitious: [15] Latin surreptītius meant ‘taken away secretly’. It was formed from the past participle of surripere ‘take away secretly’, a compound verb formed from the prefix sub- ‘under’, hence ‘secretly’, and rapere ‘seize’ (source of English rape, rapture, etc). English acquired surreptitious direct from the Latin adjective.=> rape, rapture, ravenous
- surreptitious (adj.)
- mid-15c., from Latin surrepticius "stolen, furtive, clandestine," from surreptus, past participle of surripere "seize secretly, take away, steal, plagiarize," from assimilated form of sub "from under" (hence, "secretly;" see sub-) + rapere "to snatch" (see rapid). Related: Surreptitiously.
Example
- 1. And not the surreptitious cloak of fame .
- 2. This surreptitious system of truck , barter and exchange might eventually be the kernel of a more dynamic market economy .
- 3. While we must be careful not to draw too many conclusions from samples that are far from random , it is not unreasonable to surmise that there are more than a million surreptitious listeners in a population of 24 million .
- 4. Whenever james bond needed a nifty device to snap a surreptitious surveillance picture or escape the gilded clutches of auric goldfinger , he could count on the ingenious minds in the secret service 's q division to devise a solution .
- 5. In colombian slang it refers to last-minute or surreptitious provisions slipped into legislation , usually to serve shady interests .