OPEN SECRET

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does open secret mean? 

• OPEN SECRET (noun)
  The noun OPEN SECRET has 1 sense:

1. something that is supposed to be secret but is generally known

  Familiarity information: OPEN SECRET used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OPEN SECRET (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something that is supposed to be secret but is generally known

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

their love affair was an open secret

Hypernyms ("open secret" is a kind of...):

secret (something that should remain hidden from others (especially information that is not to be passed on))

 Context examples 

Well, it's an open secret that when he's out of trainin' he drinks hard—strikin' an average, he calls it.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is an open secret that the Duke’s married life had not been a peaceful one, and the matter had ended in a separation by mutual consent, the Duchess taking up her residence in the south of France.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a British peeress.’

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)