mystification.
seal of secrecy; screen &c 530; disguise &c 530; masquerade;
masked battery; hiding place &c 530; cryptography, steganography†;
freemasonry.
stealth, stealthiness, sneakiness; obreption†; slyness &c (cunning)
702.
latitancy†, latitation†; seclusion &c 893; privacy, secrecy,
secretness†; incognita.
reticence; reserve; mental reserve, reservation; arriere pensee
[Fr.], suppression, evasion, white lie, misprision; silence &c
(taciturnity) 585; suppression of truth &c 544; underhand dealing;
closeness, secretiveness &c adj.; mystery.
latency &c 526; snake in the grass; secret &c 533; stowaway.
V. conceal, hide, secrete, put out of sight; lock up, seal up, bottle
up.
encrypt, encode, cipher.
cover, screen, cloak, veil, shroud; cover up one's tracks; screen
from sight, screen from observation; drawing the veil; draw the
curtain, close the curtain; curtain, shade, eclipse, throw a view over;
be cloud, be mask; mask, disguise; ensconce, muffle, smother; befog;
whisper.
keep from; keep back, keep to oneself; keep snug, keep close, keep
secret, keep dark; bury; sink, suppress; keep from, keep from out of
view, keep from out of sight; keep in the shade, throw into the shade,
throw into background; stifle, hush up, smother, withhold, reserve;
fence with a question; ignore &c 460.
keep a secret, keep one's own counsel; hold one's tongue &c
(silence) 585; make no sign, not let it go further; not breathe a word,
not breathe a syllable about; not let the right hand know what the left
is doing; hide one's light under a bushel, bury one's talent in a
napkin.
keep in the dark, leave in the dark, keep in the ignorance; blind,
blind the eyes; blindfold, hoodwink, mystify; puzzle &c (render
uncertain) 475; bamboozle &c (deceive) 545.
be concealed &c v.; suffer an eclipse; retire from sight, couch;
hide oneself; lie hid, lie in perdu [Fr.], lie in close; lie in ambush
(ambush) 530; seclude oneself &c 893; lurk, sneak, skulk, slink, prowl;
steal into, steal out of, steal by, steal along; play at bopeep†, play
at hide and seek; hide in holes and corners; still hunt.
Adj. concealed &c v.; hidden; secret, recondite, mystic, cabalistic,
occult, dark; cryptic, cryptical†; private, privy, in petto, auricular,
clandestine, close, inviolate; tortuous.
behind a screen &c 530; undercover, under an eclipse; in ambush,
in hiding, in disguise; in a cloud, in a fog, in a mist, in a haze, in
a dark corner; in the shade, in the dark; clouded, wrapped in clouds,
wrapt in clouds†; invisible &c 447; buried, underground, perdu [Fr.];
secluded &c 893.
undisclosed &c 529, untold &c 527; covert &c (latent) 526;
untraceable; mysterious &c (unintelligible) 519.
irrevealable†, inviolable; confidential; esoteric; not to be spoken
of; unmentionable.
obreptitious†, furtive, stealthy, feline; skulking &c v.;
surreptitious, underhand, hole and corner; sly &c (cunning) 702;
secretive, evasive; reserved, reticent, uncommunicative, buttoned up;
close, close as wax; taciturn &c 585.
Adv. secretly &c adj.; in secret, in private, in one's sleeve, in holes
and corners; in the dark &c adj.. januis clausis [Lat.], with closed
doors, a huis clos [Fr.]; hugger mugger, a la derobee [Fr.]; under the
cloak of, under the rose, under the table; sub rosa [Lat.], en tapinois
[Fr.], in the background, aside, on the sly, with bated breath, sotto
voce [Lat.], in a whisper, without beat of drum, a la sourdine†.
behind the veil; beyond mortal ken, beyond the grave, beyond the
veil; hid from mortal vision; into the eternal secret, into the realms
supersensible†, into the supreme mystery.
in confidence, in strict confidence, in strictest confidence;
confidentially &c adj.; between ourselves, between you and me; between
you and me and the bedpost; entre nous [Fr.], inter nos, under the seal
of secrecy; a couvert [Fr.].
underhand, by stealth, like a thief in the night; stealthily &c
adj.; behind the scenes, behind the curtain, behind one's back, behind
a screen &c 530; incognito; in camera.
Phr. it must go no further, it will go no further; don't tell a soul;
tell it not in Gath, nobody the wiser; alitur vitium vivitque tegendo
[Lat.]; let it be tenable in your silence still [Hamlet].
[confidential disclosure to news reporters] background
information, deep background information, deep background; background
session, backgrounder; not for attribution