1
as in shady
given to acting in secret and to concealing one's intentions
a furtive guy who always seems to be up to something, and usually that something is no-good
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in clandestine
undertaken or done so as to escape being observed or known by others
gave each other furtive glances as we watched our friend open the booby-trapped soda
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of furtive
His squirrelly, strained voice was well attuned to the furtive ambivalence of his stage presence.
—
Rolling Stone, 16 June 2025
The visual language is nimble, sometimes furtive and obscuring, and then classical and dramatic, recalling the photography of Robert Frank or Roy DeCarava.
—Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 14 June 2025
These kind furtive exchanges litter A Pale View of Hills, Kei Ishikawa’s overly careful adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s debut novel of the same name.
—Lovia Gyarkye, HollywoodReporter, 18 May 2025
In this setting, the episode shifts between covert conversations, furtive looks, confrontations behind doors, and everything in between.
—Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 9 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for furtive
Rolling Stone, 16 June 2025
The visual language is nimble, sometimes furtive and obscuring, and then classical and dramatic, recalling the photography of Robert Frank or Roy DeCarava.
—Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 14 June 2025
These kind furtive exchanges litter A Pale View of Hills, Kei Ishikawa’s overly careful adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s debut novel of the same name.
—Lovia Gyarkye, HollywoodReporter, 18 May 2025
In this setting, the episode shifts between covert conversations, furtive looks, confrontations behind doors, and everything in between.
—Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 9 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for furtive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for furtive
Adjective
-
Unlike phishing emails or shady downloads, the malicious code arrived through routine, automatic updates and raised no immediate red flags.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
14 July 2025
-
To preserve your tools, clean them off then tuck them away somewhere cooler, dryer, and shadier like a garden shed or garage.—
Hallie Milstein,
Southern Living,
14 July 2025
Adjective
-
After paying private equity tycoon Jack McGinley $52 million in a clandestine off-market deal for the Georgian-style spread, which was designed by architect Don Nulty and built in 2009 for 9-1-1: Lone Star actor Rob Lowe, Levine and Prinsloo have put the place back on the market for $65 million.—
Wendy Bowman,
Robb Report,
10 July 2025
-
Built to listen for clandestine nuclear bomb blasts, the globe-spanning system detects low-frequency acoustic-gravity waves.—
Deni Ellis Béchard,
Scientific American,
9 July 2025
Adjective
-
Demonstrating a talent for working in fluent french peppered with a british accent, the actor delivers one of his most indelible acting turns as the sly, wry, and wise business mogul-turned- butler who finds new purpose in life working on the other side of the fence.—
Pete Hammond,
Deadline,
3 July 2025
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The sly twist from humility to confidence — all delivered with a not self-aware nonchalant shrug to the crowd — drives home how much more powerful the song is, in every case, than its writer or performer.—
Marcus K. Dowling,
The Tennessean,
2 July 2025
Adjective
-
Such sadness is the stealthy undercurrent of Lunch Dances.—
Brian Schaefer
July 7,
Literary Hub,
7 July 2025
-
Israel doesn’t have any heavy bombers, stealthy or otherwise, capable of carrying such gigantic bombs.—
Paul Iddon,
Forbes.com,
4 July 2025
Adjective
-
And Aleesha spontaneously planted a kiss on Luke while celebrating their successful covert operation to get Karina’s laptop.—
Claire Franken,
TVLine,
10 July 2025
-
American Dad! is back on FOX and heading into their 20th season of outlandish plots, covert ops and alien escapades.—
Katie Campione,
Deadline,
8 July 2025
Adjective
-
Another sneaky one to watch is starting center Connor McGovern, who is also a free agent after the season.—
The Athletic NFL Staff,
New York Times,
8 July 2025
-
And since his value has been diminished by the fact a logjam at forward made everyone forget about him, a team could nab this sneaky contributor for not too much more than the veteran minimum.—
Mat Issa,
Forbes.com,
11 June 2025
Adjective
-
Watch a sneak peek below, then read on for more: Go undercover and solve local mysteries with Christmas shop owner Emily Lane!—
Matt Webb Mitovich,
TVLine,
7 July 2025
-
The solution was to move sensitive work — such as undercover drug operations or high-risk search warrants — to encrypted channels while making the day-to-day calls for service accessible.—
Teri Figueroa,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
4 July 2025
Adjective
-
Claire, who blows in and out of Kate’s life, turns up one night pleading for help and telling tales about an accident involving her shifty boyfriend Ryan (Edmund Donovan).—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
12 June 2025
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By associating vibes with AI, doing so is an outrageous and shifty means of subliminally implying that AI is mysterious, perhaps bordering on possessing sentience.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
5 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Furtive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/furtive. Accessed 19 Jul. 2025.
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