Did you know?
If you guessed that the secret to the origins of secrete is the word secret, you are correct. Secrete developed in the mid-18th century as an alteration of a now obsolete verb secret. That verb had the meaning now carried by secrete and derived from the familiar noun secret ("something kept hidden or unexplained"). The noun, in turn, traces back to the Latin secretus, the past participle of the verb secernere, meaning "to separate" or "to distinguish." Incidentally, there is an earlier and distinct verb secrete with the more scientific meaning "to form and give off (a secretion)." That secrete is a back-formation from secretion, another word that can be traced back to secernere.
Examples of secrete in a Sentence
Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2025
The love letter was secreted in cardboard stuffing inside the new pair of argyle socks, which a Manhattan Supreme Court officer passed on to Mangione from his defense team ahead of his Feb. 21 court appearance.
—Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News, 26 Mar. 2025
And active neurons secrete a substance that acts like fuel to accelerate tumor growth.
—Jon Hamilton, NPR, 25 Mar. 2025
Your immune system forms memory cells to remember what to do with each thing and plasma cells to quickly secrete antibodies specifically against things that were recognized as bad.
—Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes, 15 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for secrete
Cite this Entry
“Secrete.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secrete. Accessed 5 Apr. 2025.
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