English Explanatory Dictionary

sub rosa

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adv
  1. Covertly or in secret; confidentially, privately, secretly.
adj
  1. Carried out confidentially or secretly.
  2. Not formally stated; implicit, tacit, unspoken.
noun
  1. Covert surveillance video used as evidence against applicants for workers' compensation to show they are not in fact (seriously) injured.

Pronunciation

/ˌsʌb ˈɹəʊzə/ /ˌsʌb ˈɹoʊzə/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-sub rosa.wav

Word forms

sub rosa more sub rosa most sub rosa subrosa sub-rosa

Etymology

PIE word *upó The adverb and adjective are an unadapted borrowing from Late Latin sub rosā (literally “under the rose”), from Latin sub (“beneath, under”) + rosa (“rose”) (possibly from Ancient Greek ῥόδον (rhódon, “rose”), ultimately from Proto-Iranian *wardah (“flower; rose”) and Proto-Indo-European *Hwerdʰ-, possibly a metathesis of *h₁lewdʰ- (“to grow; to rise”)). The reason for the reference to a rose is uncertain, though it has been suggested that it derives from the Ancient Greek myth that Aphrodite (the goddess of love) gave a rose to her son Eros (the god of love and sex), who in turn gave it to Harpocrates (the god of silence, confidentiality, and secrets) to ensure that Aphrodite’s sexual indiscretions were not revealed. Roses thus became a symbol of secrecy—they were, for example, used at meetings to pledge the participants not to disclose what had been discussed. Compare under the rose which is attested earlier. The noun is derived from the adverb and adjective.

Synonyms

behind the scenes under the rose under the table abstruse catlike backroom stealth clandestine cloak-and-dagger concealed confidential covert deep-laid dern disguised furtive huggermugger hush-hush inconspicuous incognito low profile lurksome lurky mousy obfuscated off-the-books on the down-low on the sly secret secretive slinky sly sneaky stealthy sub rosa surreptitious under-the-table under the radar under wraps undercover underground unperceived

Antonyms

above-board openly publicly open public explicit expressed spoken
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