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# Word of The Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/word-of-the-day-4/
- Published: 2024-06-24T18:15:03.000Z
- Updated: 2024-06-24T18:15:04.000Z
- Author: The Editor

**Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 24, 2024 is:**

**clandestine** • \\klan-DESS-tun\\ • *adjective*  

*Clandestine* describes something done secretly, or in a private place or way.

// The wedding was a *clandestine* affair in Las Vegas.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clandestine?ref=goodoil.news)

**Examples:**  

"On the surface, it uses the traditional tropes of the spy movie—a secret intelligence network, cryptic codenames, *clandestine* meetings in public places—but *Ghost Trail* isn’t exactly thrilling, certainly not in the manner of a John le Carré novel." — Damon Wise, *Deadline*, 15 May 2024

**Did you know?**  

[Psst!](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/psst?ref=goodoil.news)—if your first instinct, upon being asked what you’ve been up to, is to [clam up](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clam-up?ref=goodoil.news), your querier may suspect you’ve been involved in some clandestine activities. *Clandestine* often substitutes for [*secret*](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secret?ref=goodoil.news) and [*covert*](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/covert?ref=goodoil.news), and it is commonly applied to actions that involve secrecy maintained for an evil, illicit, or unauthorized purpose, as in "clandestine activities pursued under cover of night." It comes to English by way of Middle French, from the Latin word *clandestinus*, which is itself from the Latin adverb *clam*, meaning "secretly." Note that this *clam* is not the ancestor of the English word [*clam*](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clam?ref=goodoil.news), despite how tightly sealed and thus secretive the [bivalves](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bivalve?ref=goodoil.news) may seem.