stealth

[stelth]

noun

1. secret, clandestine, or surreptitious procedure.

2. a furtive departure or entrance.

3. Obsolete.

   1. an act of stealing; theft.

   2. the thing stolen; booty.

4. Military.,  Stealth, a U.S. Air Force project involving a range of technologies, with the purpose of developing aircraft that are difficult to detect by sight, sound, radar, and infrared energy.

adjective

1. not openly acknowledged; surreptitious; secret.

   They used underhand methods such as the stealth hiring of a competitor's CEO.

   Spending cuts are the stealth issue of this presidential race.

2. (of a transgender person) living as a cisgender member of one's identified gender, without revealing that one is transgender.

   For some transgender people, being stealth may be the safest option.

stealth

¹

/ stɛlθ /

noun

1. the act or characteristic of moving with extreme care and quietness, esp so as to avoid detection

   the stealth of a cat

2. cunning or underhand procedure or dealing

3. archaic,  the act of stealing

Stealth

²

/ stɛlθ /

noun

1. informal,  (modifier) denoting or referring to technology that aims to reduce the radar, thermal, and acoustic recognizability of aircraft and missiles

Other Word Forms

• stealthful adjective
• stealthfully adverb
• stealthless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of stealth¹

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English stelthe, stelth; compare Old English stælthing “theft”; steal, -th ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of stealth¹

C13 stelthe ; see _steal , _-th ¹

Example Sentences

He welcomed Putin to Alaska last month with a stealth bomber flyover and a red carpet lined with US military jets.

From BBC

China also showed off its stealth attack drones, dubbed the "loyal wingman", as they are capable of flying alongside a manned fighter jet and aid it in its attacks.

From BBC

China also showed off its GJ-11 stealth attack drone, dubbed the "loyal wingman", which can fly alongside a manned fighter jet and aid it in its attacks.

From BBC

Putin first invaded Ukraine in 2014, occupying the Crimean peninsula in a stealth operation and funding an attack on the eastern region of Donbas using proxy forces.

From Los Angeles Times

Think subversion through infiltration — or revolution through stealth.

From Los Angeles Times

When To Use

What does stealth mean?

Stealth is a specific way of acting or moving that is intended to be secret or of avoiding detection, as in The cat used its stealth to sneak up on the unsuspecting mouse. Stealth is also used to describe something that is secret or is trying to avoid detection, as in The thieves organized a stealth meeting, away from the watchful eyes of the detectives.The adjectives stealthful and stealthy are used to describe something that uses stealth, as in The stealthy fox managed to avoid getting caught by the farmer’s dogs. Stealthily and stealthfully are used to describe something done with stealth, as in Santa Claus stealthily slipped the Christmas presents into the stockings to avoid waking the children.  Example: The spy used cunning and stealth to sneak into the embassy and smuggle out the documents.