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''furtive'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''furtive'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260708194133-00-⌔

furtive - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

furtive (comparative more furtive, superlative most furtive)

  • Of a thing: done with evasive or guilty secrecy.
    • ✤ Synonyms: clandestine, surreptitious; see also Thesaurus: covert
    • ✤ […] The Defendant never vvas acknovvledged by the Sieur Harrouard ’s Family, nor by that of his VVife. Thus, granting him to have been in Poſſeſſion of his Son’s Eſtate, it vvould only be a furtive and clandeſtine, not a public and avovved Poſſeſſion; and conſequently ſuch a Poſſeſſion as is incapable of founding a juſt and legal Title.1
    • ✤ [T]ender cares and mild domestic Loves,/With furtive watch, pursue her [a swan] as she moves; […]2
    • ✤ I noticed the same singular, and as it were, furtive glance over the shoulder that had attracted my attention in the Cassino.3
    • ✤ The proprietor of the house cowered over a bed-candle and a furtive tea-pot in the back drawing-room.4
    • ✤ “Don’t call me Solomon. Do you want to be the death of me?” asked the man, in a furtive, frightened way.5
    • ✤ At the edge of my kingdom scurry/⁠Creatures in feathers and furs—/Crows in a furtive hurry—/⁠Hungry and cringing curs— […]6
    • ✤ Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control.7
  • Of a thing: that has been acquired by theft; stolen; also (generally) taken stealthily.
    • ✤ Novv ſhine theſe Planets vvith ſubſtantial Rays?/Does innate Luſtre gild their meaſur’d Days?/Or do they (as your Schemes, I think, have ſhovvn)/Dart furtive Beams, and Glory not their ovvn,/All Servants to that Source of Light, the Sun?8
  • Of a person or an animal: sly, stealthy.
    • ✤ Synonyms: thieflike, thievish
    • ✤ All women have their foibles. Wise husbands must bear and forbear. Is that all? wherefore, then, is her aspect so furtive, wherefore on his a wild, vigilant sternness?9
    • ✤ So, Riderhood looking after him as he went, and he with his furtive hand laid upon the dagger as he passed it, and his eyes upon the boat, were much upon a par.10
    • ✤ Gluttonous, hoarding jay; he should have hedge-hopped and lurched from tree to tree in his usual furtive manner.11
  • Of a person, etc.: inclined to steal; pilfering, thieving.
    • ✤ Synonym: thievish

Etymology

From Middle English ﹡furtyve (implied in furtyvely (adverb)), from Middle French furtif, furtive (“furtive, stealthy”) (modern French furtif), from Latin fūrtīvus (“clandestine, furtive, secret; concealed, hidden; stolen”), from fūrtum (“theft; robbery”) (from fūr (“thief”),12 ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ﹡bʰer- (“to bear, carry”)) + -īvus (suffix forming adjectives).

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈfɜːtɪv/
  • Audio (Received Pronunciation): 🔊
  • (General American) IPA: /ˈfɝtɪv/, [-ɾɪv]
  • Audio (General American): 🔊
  • (Australian) IPA: [ˈfɜːɾɪv]
  • Rhymes: -ɜːtɪv
  • Hyphenation: furt‧ive

Printed 2026-07-08.

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Footnotes

  1. 1744, [François Gayot de Pitaval], “The History of Charles-Francis Harrouard, whom His Father and Mother Disowned to be Their Son”, in[anonymous], transl., A Select Collection of Singular and Interesting Histories. […], volume II, London: […] [A] ndrew Millar, […], →OCLC, page 280: ↩

  2. 1787–1789, William Wordsworth, “An Evening Walk, Addressed to a Young Lady”, in Henry[Hope] Reed, editor, The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Philadelphia, Pa.: Hayes & Zell, […], published 1860, →OCLC, page 27, column 2: ↩

  3. 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Adventure of the Mysterious Stranger”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 1 (Strange Stories. […]), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC, page 95: ↩

  4. 1855, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “An Old Friend”, in The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC, page 128: ↩

  5. 1859, Charles Dickens, “A Hand at Cards”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book III (The Track of a Storm), page 198: ↩

  6. 1902, [Alice Macdonald Fleming], “In Camp”, in [Alice Kipling; Alice Macdonald Fleming], Hand in Hand: Verses by a Mother and Daughter, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews […]; New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 71: ↩

  7. 1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 3, in Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished[Australia]: Project Gutenberg of Australia, August 2001, part 1, page 31: ↩

  8. 1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, book I (Knowledge), page 415: ↩

  9. 1857, Pisistratus Caxton [pseudonym; Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter V, in What will He Do with It? (Collection of British Authors; CCCCXL), Tauchnitz edition, volume III, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, →OCLC, book VI, page 159: ↩

  10. 1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “Setting Traps”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1865, →OCLC, 4th book (A Turning), page 165: ↩

  11. 1967, J[ohn] A[lec] Baker, “[The Peregrine] The Hunting Life”, in John Fanshawe, editor, The Peregrine, The Hill of Summer & Diaries: The Complete Works of J. A. Baker, London: Collins, published 2011, →ISBN, page 48: ↩

  12. “furtive, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2022; “furtive, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022. ↩

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