Cloak-and-dagger (Adjective)
Meaning
Conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods; "clandestine intelligence operations"; "cloak-and-dagger activities behind enemy lines"; "hole-and-corner intrigue"; "secret missions"; "a secret agent"; "secret sales of arms"; "surreptitious mobilization of troops"; "an undercover investigation"; "underground resistance".
Classification
All adjective clusters.
Examples
- The journalist exposed a cloak-and-dagger operation in which government officials were secretly accepting bribes from foreign leaders.
- Her career as a secret agent involved conducting cloak-and-dagger missions behind enemy lines to gather intelligence and sabotage the enemy's operations.
- The spy thriller movie depicted a cloak-and-dagger world of espionage and deception, with double agents and secret agents vying for control.
- After his murder, police uncovered a web of cloak-and-dagger intrigue and conspiracy involving organized crime figures and corrupt law enforcement officials.
- During World War II, a group of scientists and engineers engaged in a cloak-and-dagger operation to develop an atomic bomb before the Nazis could create one.