open secret

English

Noun

open secret (plural open secrets)

1. Information that is widely known, but not acknowledged openly.
   • 1894, Alvan S. Southworth, "A Generation of the New York Bar", in Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly (later The American Magazine), Volume XXXVII, page 427,

     It was an open secret in the profession at that time that Mr. Field had very explicit documentary evidence that would have made Mr. Evarts very uncomfortable had the Bar Association thrown down the gauntlet.

2. (dated) Information that is not widely known, despite being freely available.

Synonyms

• secret of Polichinelle

Translations

widely known fact not mentioned

• Dutch: publiek geheim n
• French: secret de Polichinelle (fr) m
• German: offenes Geheimnis n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: nyílt titok
• Japanese: 公然の秘密 (kōzen no himitsu)
• Spanish: secreto a voces m