secret society

noun

1. an organization, as a fraternal society, the members of which take secret initiation oaths, share secret passwords and rites, and are bound to assist each other.

secret society

noun

1. a society or organization that conceals its rites, activities, etc, from those who are not members

Word History and Origins

Origin of secret society¹

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

Jessica, one of the movie’s most compelling and enigmatic characters, is a member of an all-woman secret society with mystical powers.

From Time

It was something not too many people knew about and you were kind of part of a secret society, and I really liked that.

From The Daily Beast

One-Percent Jokes and Plutocrats in Drag Kevin Roose, New York What I saw when I crashed a Wall Street secret society.

From The Daily Beast

The novel begins with a statement: “FACT, the Priory of Sion—a European secret society founded in 1099—is a real organization.”

From The Daily Beast

Turns out the ophthalmologist was a member of a secret society in college, the Noze Brotherhood.

From The Daily Beast

Dr. Adam Weishaupt, professor of canon law at Ingolstadt, founded the secret society of the illuminati.

From Project Gutenberg

But his connection with some secret society having been asserted, he received orders to start for Irkutsk.

From Project Gutenberg

A secret society, whose founders belonged to the disaffected spirits of the nation, had already taken root in it for a long time.

From Project Gutenberg

We shall find this double tradition running through all the secret society movement up to the present day.

From Project Gutenberg

Now, Switzerland has been for hundreds of years a centre of revolutionary and secret-society intrigue.

From Project Gutenberg