surreptitious

Borrowed from Latin surrēptīcius (“furtive, clandestine”), from surrēpō (“to creep along”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌsʌɹɪpˈtɪʃəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /səˌɹɜpˈtɪʃəs/, /ˌsʌɹəpˈtɪʃəs/, /ˌsɜɹəpˈtɪʃəs/
• Rhymes: -ɪʃəs

surreptitious (comparative more surreptitious, superlative most surreptitious)

1. Stealthy, furtive, well hidden, covert (especially movements).
   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎:

     He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.

   • 1998, Lee A. Bygrave, “Data Protection Pursuant to the Right to Privavy in Human Rights Treaties”, in International Journal of Law and Information Technology, volume 6, number 3, pages 260–261:

     It is also worth noting the case law on prisoners' correspondence which establishes that interception of a person's communications need not be surreptitious in order to amount to an interference with respect to Art 8 (1) [ECHR].

• See Thesaurus:covert

• surreptitiously