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Secret Service

Secret Service

381 3.4
A United States government group that protects the president and vice president and investigates fake money
  • noun
  • /ˈsiːkrɪt ˈsɜːrvɪs/
  • US
translation icon : Servicio Secreto de Estados Unidos
  • Welcome to the Secret Service.
  • Secret Service agent
  • U.S. Secret Service

Now, there was also talk that in Pennsylvania, some Secret Service assets were actually moved.

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Examples

  • The Secret Service is responsible for protecting the president during public events.

  • The street's been temporarily closed to traffic, and Secret Service agents man the sidewalk.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • So I meet with the Secret Service, meet with them.

  • Three days later, Secret Service shows back up.

  • Now, to be fair, I still do have Secret Service because I was once first lady.

  • Do you always carry this many Secret Service around?

  • Get the Secret Service out of the house.

  • And the only job of the Secret Service is to protect the candidate.

  • The living room is huge and occupied by several Secret Service agents.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Today's guest will give us an insider's view of how the Secret Service works and what might have gone wrong.

Synonyms

SS
vsSecret Service
  • US
34 6.6

A US agency that protects the president and investigates counterfeit money

is the full formal name rather than this shortened form
United States Secret Service
vsSecret Service
  • Formal
2 3.7

A government group that protects the US president, vice president, their families, visiting leaders, and stops people making fake money

is the shorter, more common name used in everyday speech
US Secret Service
vsSecret Service
1 3.4

A United States government agency that protects the president, other top officials, and investigates money crimes

is focused on protecting current officeholders rather than former ones
USSS
vsSecret Service
1 6.1

A U.S. government agency that protects leaders and stops fake money

is the full formal name used in official contexts rather than the abbreviation

Surface Forms

Morphology

secret + service

The phrase literally combines 'secret' + 'service' so a learner can infer it denotes a clandestine or government service (intelligence/security), and many languages have equivalent constructions, giving a general idea. However, the specific institutional remit of the U.S. Secret Service (protecting the president and investigating counterfeiting) is culturally and institutionally specific and not fully predictable from the constituents alone, so the transparency is partial.

Etymology

Secret Service comes from the words secret and service: it began as a small government team doing 'secret' or hidden work to 'serve' the country. That's why the phrase brings to mind unseen guards who 'protect' leaders and quietly 'investigate' crimes like 'making fake money'.