covert
[ adjective koh-vert, kuhv-ert; noun kuhv-ert, koh-vert ]
/ adjective ˈkoʊ vərt, ˈkʌv ərt; noun ˈkʌv ərt, ˈkoʊ vərt /
adjective
noun
Origin of covert
1275–1325; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin
coopertus, past participle of
cooperīre to cover completely; see
cover
pronunciation note for covert
Covert, related to
cover, has historically been pronounced
[kuhv-ert] /ˈkʌv ərt/, with
[uh] /ʌ/, the same stressed vowel found in
cover. This
[uh] /ʌ/ is the traditional and unchallenged vowel in many other English words spelled with stressed
o followed by
v, voiced
th, or a nasal in the same syllable, words of high frequency like
love and
above, mother and
other, some and
honey. The adjective
covert, however, by analogy with
overt
[oh-vurt, oh-vert] /oʊˈvɜrt, ˈoʊ vərt/, its semantic opposite, has developed the pronunciation
[koh-vert] /ˈkoʊ vərt/, perhaps because of the frequent coupling of the two terms in the news media. This is now the more common pronunciation for the adjective in American English, though not in British English, which retains the historical pronunciation. For the noun senses, less likely to appear in the news or to be contrasted with
overt and its
[oh] /oʊ/ sound, the historical
[kuhv-ert] /ˈkʌv ərt/ remains the more frequent pronunciation.
OTHER WORDS FROM covert
co·vert·ly, adverb co·vert·ness, nounWORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH covert
covert overtWords nearby covert
Example sentences from the Web for covert
British Dictionary definitions for covert
covert
/ (ˈkʌvət) /
adjective
concealed or secret
covert jealousy
law Compare feme covert, discovert
noun
Derived forms of covert
covertly, adverb covertness, nounWord Origin for covert
C14: from Old French: covered, from
covrir to
cover