secret

Information that someone does not want other people to know.

• Can you keep a secret?
• She told me a secret about her family.
• They discovered secrets that had been hidden for years.

How to use it: keep something a secret (Please keep our plan a secret.)

Similar words: confidential information

Common phrases: keep a secret, tell a secret, share a secret, family secret

The important thing or method that makes something work well or explains its success.

• Patience is the secret to success.
• What's the secret of your delicious soup?
• She shared her secrets for growing healthy tomatoes.

How to use it: the secret to something/doing something (Practice is the secret to playing well.); the secret of something (What's the secret of your success?)

Similar words: key, trick, knack

Common phrases: secret of success, secret ingredient, secret to something, the real secret

A state of privacy in which other people do not know what is happening.

• They met in secret.
• We planned the party in secret.
• The two leaders held talks in secret for several months.

How to use it: in secret (They arranged the surprise in secret.)

Similar words: secrecy, privacy

Opposites: openness

Common phrases: in secret, meet in secret, work in secret

Hidden from most people or known only to a few.

• This is a secret door.
• They held a secret meeting last night.
• We kept the birthday plans secret from Dad.

How to use it: keep something secret (They kept their plans secret.); secret from someone (She kept the news secret from her parents.)

Similar words: hidden, confidential, private

Opposites: public, open

Common phrases: secret diary, secret meeting, secret agent, keep something secret