secretiveness
- noun
- /ˈsiːkrɪtɪvnəs/
- His secretiveness about his health made it difficult for his friends to understand what he was going through.
Examples
-
There is always an aura of evil and secretiveness in witchcraft among individuals who may seek to do harm.
Academic text (2000) -
The case was further complicated by the intense secretiveness of the trade in high-value musical instruments.
Blog text (27) -
Out in the world, he was private to the point of secretiveness.
Academic text (1999) -
I imagine, though, that it's going to involve Sam's anxiety and secretiveness about his past.
Blog text (29) -
I assumed the secretiveness and the danger were themselves sufficiently prophylactic.
Fiction book (1997) -
But there was a new secretiveness to his manner, a not-quite definable quality that made Billy extremely nervous.
Fiction book (1991) -
Perhaps the least effective tools with which to address this liability are the caution and secretiveness that have become Romney's trademarks.
Blog text (17) -
"The suggestion that our own secretiveness has contributed to this incident cannot be casually dismissed," he said gravely.
Fiction book (1998) -
The precise details of the Time War, however, have been shrouded in the Doctor's characteristic secretiveness and distractibility.
Blog text (4) -
Ironically, their secretiveness was now being misread—thus socially and politically transformed—as a sign of subversiveness, backwardness, and wrong-thinking.
Academic text (1993)
Synonyms
Keeping information hidden from other people
A tendency to be careful and secret about giving information
Quiet and secret actions to avoid being noticed
Being secret so other people do not know about it
Habit of doing things in a hidden way
Trying to avoid being seen or noticed
Antonyms
How Secretive
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Secretiveness comes from the familiar word secret, which goes back to Latin secretus meaning 'separate' or 'hidden'. So secretiveness is the habit of keeping things 'hidden' and not telling others.