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Sneak vs Secret - What's the difference?

sneak | secret |

In lang=en terms the difference between sneak and secret

is that sneak is (informal, especially with on) to inform an authority about another's misdemeanours; to tell tales; to grass while secret is to make or keep secret.

As nouns the difference between sneak and secret

is that sneak is one who sneaks; one who moves stealthily to acquire an item or information while secret is (countable|uncountable) knowledge that is hidden and intended to be kept hidden.

As verbs the difference between sneak and secret

is that sneak is to creep or go stealthily; to come or go while trying to avoid detection, as a person who does not wish to be seen while secret is to make or keep secret.

As adjectives the difference between sneak and secret

is that sneak is in advance; before release to the general public while secret is being or kept hidden.

sneak

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • One who sneaks; one who moves stealthily to acquire an item or information.
  • My little brother is such a sneak - yesterday I caught him trying to look through my diary.
  • A cheat; a con artist; a trickster
  • I can't believe I gave that sneak $50 for a ticket when they were selling for $20 at the front gate.
  • An informer; a tell-tale.
  • (obsolete, cricket) A ball bowled so as to roll along the ground; a daisy-cutter
  • Verb

  • To creep or go stealthily; to come or go while trying to avoid detection, as a person who does not wish to be seen.
  • He decided to sneak into the kitchen for a second cookie while his mom was on the phone.
  • To take something stealthily without permission.
  • I went to sneak a chocolate but my dad caught me.
  • (dated) To hide, especially in a mean or cowardly manner.
  • * Wake
  • [Slander] sneaks its head.
  • (informal, especially with on) To inform an authority about another's misdemeanours; to tell tales; to grass.
  • If you sneak on me I'll bash you!

    Usage notes

    * The past and past participle snuck'' is primarily found in North American English, where it originated in the late 19th century as a dialectal form. It is still regarded as informal by some, but its use appears to be increasing in frequency and acceptability. It is occasionally found in British and Australian/Hiberno-English, too, though regarded as an American form. (See Oxford Dictionaries, ''The Cambridge Guide to English Usage'', ''Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary'', ''Webster's New World College Dictionary .) * To sneak'' (take) something is not the same as to ''steal'' something. In this sense, ''sneak'' typically implies trying to avoid a supervisor's or guardian's mild displeasure or mild discipline, while ''steal indicates a more serious action and often the person stealing does not know the owner of the item being stolen.

    Derived terms

    * sneaker * sneaky * sneakily * sneakiness * sneak peek * sneak preview * sneak thief * sneak away * sneak in * sneak off * sneak out * sneak up/sneak up on * sneak around

    Adjective

    (-)
  • In advance; before release to the general public.
  • The company gave us a sneak look at their new electronic devices.
  • In a stealthy or surreptitious manner.
  • I was able to get a sneak peek at the guest list.

    Derived terms

    * sneak peek * sneak preview

    secret

    English

    Noun

  • (countable, uncountable) Knowledge that is hidden and intended to be kept hidden.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=(Jonathan Freedland)
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Obama's once hip brand is now tainted , passage=Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets , spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.}}
  • * Rambler
  • To tell our secrets is often folly; to communicate those of others is treachery.
  • (uncountable) Something not understood or known.
  • * Milton
  • All secrets of the deep, all nature's works.
  • (archaic, in the plural) The genital organs.
  • Synonyms

    * (l)

    Derived terms

    * family secret * in secret * keep secret * open secret * Oxford secret * secretist * state secret * top secret * trade secret * Victoria's Secret

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Being or kept hidden.
  • * Bible, Deuteronomy xxix. 29
  • The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=1 citation , passage=The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.}}
  • (obsolete) Withdrawn from general intercourse or notice; in retirement or secrecy; secluded.
  • * Fenton
  • secret in her sapphire cell
  • (obsolete) Faithful to a secret; not inclined to divulge or betray confidence; secretive.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Secret Romans, that have spoke the word, / And will not palter.
  • (obsolete) Separate; distinct.
  • * Cudworth
  • They suppose two other divine hypostases superior thereunto, which were perfectly secret from matter.

    Alternative forms

    * secrette (obsolete)

    Synonyms

    * private * dern * confidential * concealed

    Antonyms

    * overt

    Derived terms

    * secret admirer * secret agent * secret ballot * secret code * secret partner * secret police * * secret Santa * secret service * secret society * secret writing * secretive * secretly * secretness * unsecret

    Verb

  • To make or keep secret.
  • * 1984 , Peter Scott Lawrence, Around the mulberry tree, Firefly Books, p. 26
  • [...] she would unfold the silk, press it with a smooth wooden block that she'd heated in the oven, and then once more secret it away.
  • * 1986 , InfoWorld, InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.
  • Diskless workstations [...] make it difficult for individuals to copy information [...] onto a diskette and secret it away.
  • * 1994 , Phyllis Granoff & Koichi Shinohara, Monks and magicians: religious biographies in Asia, Mosaic Press, p. 50
  • To prevent the elixir from reaching mankind and thereby upsetting the balance of the universe, two gods secret it away.

    Usage notes

    * All other dictionaries label this sense 'obsolete', but the citations above and on the citations page demonstrate recent usage as part of the idiom "secret [something] away". * The present participle and past forms secreting and secreted are liable to confusion with the corresponding heteronymous forms of the similar verb secrete.

    Quotations

    *

    Derived terms

    * secrete

    References

    * “ †?secret, v.'']” listed in the '''' [2nd Ed.; 1989]
    Tagged as ''obsolete''. Notes: “In the inflected forms it is not easy to distinguish between ?''secret'' and [http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50218071 secrete ''v.
    ” * “ Se"cret' (?), v. t.]” listed on [http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.page.sh?page=1301 page 1,301] of '''' (1913)
    '''Se"cret
    (?), v. t. To keep secret. [Obs. ''Bacon .

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    Anagrams

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