How to Use open secret in a Sentence

open secret

noun
  • It's an open secret that he's been cheating on his wife.
  • The fate of all those tapes has been an open secret for years.
    — New York Times, 11 June 2019
  • This new child is an open secret, hidden in skin.
    — Literary Hub, 10 Feb. 2026
  • Look, this story was a big open secret for a very, very long time.
    — Norman Vanamee, Town & Country, 22 July 2021
  • The method appears to be an open secret online.
    — Dan Bernstein, Sportico.com, 7 Apr. 2026
  • Their romance was an open secret, and more than a little scandalous.
    — Danielle Parker, CBS News, 18 May 2026
  • My musical dreams were just that, something like an open secret.
    — Ernesto Lechner, Rolling Stone, 7 Oct. 2024
  • Haya said these cherry-picking practices have been an open secret.
    — ProPublica, 4 May 2021
  • The open secret is that the 20-year-old ain’t that much of a cowboy to begin with.
    — Brian Josephs, EW.com, 21 June 2019
  • The nature of the pro se committee was an open secret at the courthouse.
    — Anat Rubin, ProPublica, 4 Nov. 2023
  • One of the open secrets of live stand-up is that the most famous names are rarely the funniest ones on the bill.
    — Jason Zinoman, New York Times, 2 July 2018
  • In some ways, this has been the biggest open secret in digital media.
    — Brian Stelter, CNN, 28 Sep. 2021
  • There are two open secrets in college admissions.
    — David Blobaum, Chicago Tribune, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Star chef Rene Redzepi’s misconduct had long been an open secret.
    — Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
  • One guesses that Keynes’s predatory ways with younger males was an open secret.
    — John Tamny, Forbes, 28 Dec. 2022
  • For much of the 20th century, joke stealing was an open secret.
    — Eric Spitznagel, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Jan. 2024
  • The role of public funding in drug development has been an open secret for decades.
    — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2021
  • This is what his version of that dully familiar standby, the open secret, looked like.
    — Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 15 Aug. 2019
  • The lawsuit claims the abuse of young athletes was known and tolerated for years as an 'open secret' in the sport.
    — Joe Mutascio, The Indianapolis Star, 20 June 2024
  • In Berlin, the Ökohaus project remains something of an open secret.
    — Megan O’Grady, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2020
  • The Lattanzi dinners, which go back several decades, are an open secret.
    — Priya Krishna, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2025
  • This environment was an open secret.
    — Paula Wethington, CBS News, 24 Apr. 2026
  • There will very likely be more allegations in the months to come, more open secrets stripped of their secrecy.
    — Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 2 Nov. 2017
  • Adding intrigue is the rather open secret affair Byrne is suspected of having with her.
    — Pete Hammond, Deadline, 15 Jan. 2026
  • The friends-and-family line for Pastis and Balthazar is an open secret.
    — Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 19 May 2021
  • The layers of barriers to getting on vendor lists are an open secret in the events industry.
    — New York Times, 6 Aug. 2021
  • But McDaniel said Strauss' behavior had been an open secret for years.
    — CBS News, 4 June 2026
  • Golubski’s predatory behavior seemed to have been not so much an open secret as just open.
    — Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 18 Feb. 2026
  • Hegseth’s rivalry with Driscoll is an open secret at the Pentagon.
    — Michael Scherer, The Atlantic, 27 Apr. 2026
  • The steady stream of people walking out with a tiny bag of Fritos and giant smiles on their faces was an open secret in the neighborhood.
    — Chris Goldstein, Philly.com, 8 Sep. 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'open secret.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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