- Not openly practiced, avowed, engaged in, accumulated, or shown: covert military operations; covert funding for the rebels. See synonyms at secret.
- Covered or covered over; sheltered.
- Law. Being married and therefore protected by one's husband.
- A covering or cover.
- A covered place or shelter; hiding place.
- Thick underbrush or woodland affording cover for game.
- Zoology. One of the small feathers covering the bases of the longer feathers of a bird's wings or tail.
- A flock of coots. See synonyms at flock1.
[Middle English, from Old French, from past participle of covrir, to cover. See cover.]
covertly cov'ert·ly adv.covertness cov'ert·ness n.




