Synonyms

open secret

American

noun

something supposedly secret but actually known quite generally.

open secret British

noun

something that is supposed to be secret but is widely known

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

open secret Idioms

Something that is supposedly clandestine but is in fact widely known, as in It's an open secret that both their children are adopted. This expression originated as the title of a Spanish play by Calderón, El Secreto a Voces (“The Noisy Secret”), which was translated by Carlo Gozzi into Italian as Il pubblico secreto (1769). In English the term came into general use during the 1800s.

Etymology

Origin of open secret

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

On Tuesday, the defense insisted on the Brazao brothers' innocence, while noting that links between local power and criminals were an open secret.

From Barron's

Soon it was an open secret among traders that Americans were using Polymarket despite the ban.

From The Wall Street Journal

It’s an open secret among general audiences and industry figures alike.

From Salon

The BBC has spoken to a former lecturer who describes essay cheating as an "open secret" and to a businessman who claims to have made millions from selling "model answer" essays to university students.

From BBC

Still, it was an open secret that the car wash industry, which paid low wages for back-breaking labor, largely attracted people without legal status.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023