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secrete

verb

Simple meaning

To extract a substance from blood, sap, or similar to produce and emit waste for excretion or for the fulfilling of a physiological function.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sihkreet

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

sɪkˈɹit

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. physiologytransitiveof organsglandsetc.

    To extract a substance from blood, sap, or similar to produce and emit waste for excretion or for the fulfilling of a physiological function.

  2. transitivefigurative

    To exude or yield.

  3. transitive

    To conceal.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Rare

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (physiology, transitive, of organs, glands, etc.) To extract a substance from blood, sap, or similar to produce and emit waste for excretion or for the fulfilling of a physiological function.

Used this way, secrete is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Medicine/healthcare
  • Science
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use secrete

  • “The money was secreted from his children.”verb
  • “Secrete digestive juices.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

secrete insulinsecrete mucussecrete milk

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • secretarynounDerived noun

    A person who is head of an administrative department of government.

  • secretlyadverbDerived adverb

    In secrecy.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • secretory phasenounRelated term

    The second half of the menstrual cycle after ovulation.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: (physiology or transitive or of organs or glands

release

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.