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furtive

adjective

fur·​tive ˈfər-tiv How to pronounce furtive (audio)
1
a
: done in a quiet and secretive way to avoid being noticed : surreptitious
a furtive glance
exchanged furtive smiles
b
: expressive of stealth : sly
had a furtive look about him
2
: obtained underhandedly : stolen
furtive gains
furtively adverb
furtiveness noun

Did you know?

Furtive comes from either Latin furtivus or French furtif. The earliest known written uses of furtive are from the early 1600s. When first used in English, furtive meant "done by stealth," and later also came to mean, less commonly, "stolen." Whichever meaning you choose, the word has an elusive ancestry, which is particularly fitting, since a thief must be furtive to avoid getting caught in the act.

Synonyms

Choose the Right Synonym for furtive

secret, covert, stealthy, furtive, clandestine, surreptitious, underhanded mean done without attracting observation.

secret implies concealment on any grounds for any motive.

met at a secret location

covert stresses the fact of not being open or declared.

covert intelligence operations

stealthy suggests taking pains to avoid being seen or heard especially in some misdoing.

the stealthy step of a burglar

furtive implies a sly or cautious stealthiness.

lovers exchanging furtive glances

clandestine implies secrecy usually for an evil, illicit, or unauthorized purpose and often emphasizes the fear of being discovered.

a clandestine meeting of conspirators

surreptitious applies to action or behavior done secretly often with skillful avoidance of detection and in violation of custom, law, or authority.

the surreptitious stockpiling of weapons

underhanded stresses fraud or deception.

an underhanded trick

Example Sentences

This means that they need use only quantum mechanics or only general relativity and can, with a furtive glance, shrug off the barking admonition of the other. Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe, 1999 Fall's pleasures were furtive, risky, short-lived-buckeye fights,  … the endless recipes for the apples Mrs. Railsbeck asked him to fetch from the cobwebbed crate in the basement. Stewart O'Nan, The Names of the Dead, 1996 … it made Shepherd look furtive, wary, hunted—as if the photographer had shot him against his will, in the act of slamming the door. Helen Garner, The First Stone, 1995 He cast a furtive glance in our direction. We exchanged furtive smiles across the table.
Recent Examples on the Web Kelly remained furtive when asked about Charbonnet’s availability for next week. Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2022 Other, more furtive radiations get swallowed up by the energetic noise-canceling audioware, which uses data from wheel sensors and cabin microphones to identify and produce the nulling frequencies. Dan Neil, WSJ, 1 Sep. 2022 The furtive ministrations of Greenchuk, a film editor, and Volkov, a producer, on those perilous days this spring have stretched into the summer. Manuel Roig-franzia, Washington Post, 16 Aug. 2022 Her success is all the more notable in a country where taboos about seeking mental health treatment have deep roots and getting therapy has traditionally been a furtive enterprise. New York Times, 29 July 2022 Philyaw is a voyeur of a kind, training her gaze on the furtive activities of Black women. The New Yorker, 4 July 2022 Oliphant was fond of drawing Nixon as furtive, such as in a cartoon in which the president whispers to a Vietnam War protester through the White House fence. Michael Cavna, Washington Post, 16 June 2022 The characters—a pair of teen boys falling in love—were adorably expressive, all wide eyes and furtive glances captured in fine strokes. Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 11 May 2022 Until this year, museum officials and employees were extremely furtive about the exhibition—so much so that the New York Times’ Corey Kilgannon struggled to find sources for a 2012 story on the show. Jane Recker, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 June 2022 See More

Word History

Etymology

French or Latin; French furtif, from Latin furtivus, from furtum theft, from fur thief, from or akin to Greek phōr thief; akin to Greek pherein to carry — more at bear

First Known Use

1612, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of furtive was in 1612

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