noun

• 1A sensitive issue or piece of information that is kept secret by the government, usually to protect the public.

  ‘protest was silenced and pollution was as much a state secret as the ammunition stocks’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Provider of unauthorised access to personal data or a state secret, along with the disclosure of a user password will serve between one to three years' imprisonment.’
  • ‘Its contents continue to be a heavily guarded state secret.’
  • ‘Actual death penalty statistics are a closely guarded state secret.’
  • ‘It is no state secret that the selection convention in Castlebar was somewhat unusual to say the least.’
  • ‘People convicted of deliberately leaking state secrets could face jail terms of three to 10 years.’

  1. 1.1 humorous A piece of information, usually of a trivial or personal nature, that is closely guarded and desired to be kept private.
     ‘she thought her affair with the boss was a state secret, but we all giggled about it behind her back’
     More example sentences

     • ‘She also owns an iPod, although her playlist is a closely-guarded state secret.’