secret

{{Roman}}I.{{/Roman}}

noun

1 sth that must not be known by others

ADJECTIVE

▪ big, great

▪ little

▪ closely guarded, well-kept

▪

a charming museum that is one of the city's best-kept secrets (= that not many people know about)

▪ deep (esp. AmE), hidden, inner, innermost, intimate

▪

That evening she had revealed many of her innermost secrets.

▪ open

▪

Their affair is an open secret.

▪ dark, dirty, guilty, shameful, terrible

▪ family, military, nuclear, official, state, trade

VERB + SECRET

▪ have

▪ guard, keep

▪

Can you keep a secret?

▪ hide

▪

Uncle Charlie hides a dark secret.

▪ betray, divulge, give away

▪ let sb in on, let sb into (BrE), reveal, share, tell sb

▪

She let us into her secret—she was engaged.

▪ discover, find out, learn, uncover, unlock

▪ know

▪ remain

▪

Their relationship remained a secret.

SECRET + VERB

▪ be out, come out, get out

▪

How did the secret get out?

PREPOSITION

▪ in secret

▪

The stars were married in secret to avoid publicity.

▪ secret about

▪

There was some secret about the source of his wealth.

▪ secret from

▪

I have no secrets from you.

PHRASES

▪ make no secret of the fact that … , not make a secret of sth

▪

He refuses to make any secret of his political allegiances.

2 only/best way of doing/achieving sth

VERB + SECRET

▪ reveal, tell sb

▪ know

▪ hold

▪

These animals may hold the secret to combating the virus.

PREPOSITION

▪ secret behind

▪

She revealed the secret behind her extraordinary success.

▪ secret of

▪

the secrets of staying healthy

PHRASES

▪ the secret of (sb's) success

{{Roman}}II.{{/Roman}}

adj.

VERBS

▪ be

▪ remain, stay

▪ keep sth

ADVERB

▪ highly, top, very

▪

a top-secret meeting

▪ formerly, previously

▪

The text of the previously secret treaty can now be revealed.

▪ supposedly

PREPOSITION

▪ from

▪

They managed to keep the party more or less secret from Christine.

Secret is used with these nouns: ↑address, ↑admirer, ↑affair, ↑agenda, ↑agent, ↑ambition, ↑ballot, ↑camera, ↑chamber, ↑code, ↑compartment, ↑corner, ↑crush, ↑deal, ↑desire, ↑diary, ↑diplomacy, ↑document, ↑door, ↑drawer, ↑entrance, ↑exit, ↑fantasy, ↑file, ↑formula, ↑handshake, ↑hearing, ↑identity, ↑information, ↑ingredient, ↑intelligence, ↑laboratory, ↑life, ↑location, ↑longing, ↑love, ↑lover, ↑meeting, ↑memo, ↑memorandum, ↑message, ↑mission, ↑negotiation, ↑panel, ↑passage, ↑passion, ↑password, ↑plan, ↑pocket, ↑police, ↑recipe, ↑rendezvous, ↑report, ↑retreat, ↑ritual, ↑service, ↑shame, ↑shopper, ↑society, ↑surveillance, ↑talk, ↑treasure, ↑truth, ↑tunnel, ↑vault, ↑vice, ↑vote, ↑weapon, ↑wish, ↑worry