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FURTIVE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Secret and sly or sordid
Example:
furtive behavior
Synonyms:
backstair; backstairs; furtive
Classified under:
Similar:
covert (secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed)
Derivation:
furtiveness (a disposition to be sly and stealthy and to do things surreptitiously)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Marked by quiet and caution and secrecy; taking pains to avoid being observed
Example:
a surreptitious glance at his watch
Synonyms:
furtive; sneak; sneaky; stealthy; surreptitious
Classified under:
Similar:
concealed (hidden on any grounds for any motive)
Derivation:
furtiveness (a disposition to be sly and stealthy and to do things surreptitiously)
Context examples:
Stanley Hopkins led us first to the house, where he introduced us to a haggard, grey-haired woman, the widow of the murdered man, whose gaunt and deep-lined face, with the furtive look of terror in the depths of her red-rimmed eyes, told of the years of hardship and ill-usage which she had endured.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Now it was a lithe, furtive stoat which shot across the path upon some fell errand of its own; then it was a wild cat which squatted upon the outlying branch of an oak and peeped at the traveller with a yellow and dubious eye.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
In all the broad landscape those were the only moving figures, the graceful girl sitting very straight upon her machine, and the man behind her bending low over his handle-bar with a curiously furtive suggestion in every movement.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
