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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
surreptitious
adjective
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Fortunately, his surreptitious action also turned out to be illegal.
▪ Solitary, masochistic, surreptitious vice, that's all he understands.
▪ The back avoids eye contact and confrontation, but it may invite the surreptitious gaze.
▪ The result was that we all kept making surreptitious trips to the staff room to refill our plastic beakers.
▪ Then a little light came through the uncovered spyhole, a flickering, surreptitious light.
▪ Women in nightdresses peeping out of roadside houses lent a surreptitious air to the first few miles.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Surreptitious

Surreptitious \Sur`rep*ti"tious\, a. [L. surreptitius, or subreptitius, fr. surripere, subripere, to snatch away, to withdraw privily; sub- under + rapere to snatch. See Sub-, and Ravish.] Done or made by stealth, or without proper authority; made or introduced fraudulently; clandestine; stealthy; as, a surreptitious passage in an old manuscript; a surreptitious removal of goods. -- Sur`rep*ti"tious*ly, adv.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
surreptitious

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.

Wiktionary
surreptitious

a. stealthy, furtive, hidden, covert (especially movements).

WordNet
surreptitious
  1. adj. marked by quiet and caution and secrecy; taking pains to avoid being observed; "a furtive manner"; "a lurking prowler"; "a sneak attack"; "stealthy footsteps"; "a surreptitious glance at his watch"; "someone skulking in the shadows" [syn: furtive, lurking, skulking, sneak(a), sneaky, stealthy]

  2. conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods; "clandestine intelligence operations"; "cloak-and-dagger activities behind enemy lines"; "hole-and-corner intrigue"; "secret missions"; "a secret agent"; "secret sales of arms"; "surreptitious mobilization of troops"; "an undercover investigation"; "underground resistance" [syn: clandestine, cloak-and-dagger, hole-and-corner(a), hugger-mugger, hush-hush, on the quiet(p), secret, undercover, underground]

Usage examples of "surreptitious".

Probably some farther distance away from the moisture farm so its autonomic spy circuits could kick in and it could find a surreptitious vantage point by which it could observe and record whatever happened.

Dee a surreptitious wink, letting her know that they would put the Scooper on Lisanne the next day.

The camp would have two posted guards and one unposted one, for the barbarian and half-elf would keep surreptitious watch themselves.

The Church has played a double part, a part of sheer antagonism, forcing heathen customs into the shade, into a more or less surreptitious and unprogressive life, and a part of adaptation, baptizing them into Christ, giving them a Christian name and interpretation, and often modifying their form.

Here, also, Boyd had set up a surreptitious antipersonnel landmine factory.

The half-lit Planting Moon did not rise until I had nearly reached Cranshaw, and I wondered if Claire had factored the time of its rise into her plans, waiting for days to order me there so I would walk through black forest to a secret moonlit meeting, feeling surreptitious and fraudulent in the night.

The Church has played a double part, a part of sheer antagonism, forcing heathen customs into the shade, into a more or less surreptitious and unprogressive life, and a part of adaptation, baptizing them into Christ, giving them a Christian name and interpretation, and often modifying their form.

Sitting silently on the hard bench, heedless of the surreptitious glances of youthful males on the other side of the bare room, Dolley could not know that the kindling admiration in one pair of dark, intent eyes would bring profound change to her life.

IBSs can be dropped out of planes like rubber duckies or launched underwater from submarines, so they are convenient for surreptitious or covert operations.

He had a nervous habit of wriggling ingratiatingly and now, all the time he was talking, he seemed to be making surreptitious attempts to stroke his calves by leaning over backwards to get at them.

And so here he was, seated in one of the great plush velvet armchairs in the Disraeli Lounge making surreptitious notes as the Archduke arrived.

Surreptitious smiles, at this, passed from one rascal to another, and they filled all the glasses, and whilst Backus honestly drained his to the bottom they pretended to do the same, but threw the wine over their shoulders.

Hicetaon realized only after several minutes of surreptitious observation was of entwined antlers.

Laszlo to the last of the five hundred faces she had been flashing him since he woke up, and the surreptitious semaphoring of her hands signaling him to the front, the front of what?

Johnny had insisted that they should go out together and look for some late entertainment that might not have been discovered by the assembled exploiters of appetizing toothache, and what with one thing and another it had been very late when he got home, and he had only just shed most of his clothes and brushed his teeth when he heard the furtive scuffling outside which was the surreptitious descent of Mr.