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
Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2025
Some ants secrete antibiotics for their nest mates with injuries.
—Sara Hashemi, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Feb. 2025
Oxytocin is a neuropeptide produced in the hypothalamus and secreted by the pituitary gland during times of intimacy like hugging and breastfeeding.
—Jennifer Borresen, USA TODAY, 14 Feb. 2025
The exhibition also highlights gold substitutes used in the past, such as sea silk made from the filaments secreted by the Pinna nobilis, a type of large saltwater clam; golden spider silk from Madagascar, and yellow cocoons produced by a type of silkworm in Cambodia.
—Joelle Diderich, WWD, 12 Feb. 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 12 Mar. 2025.
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