Intimate
Intimate adjective - Not known or meant to be known by the general populace.
Usage example: they broke up after she shared intimate information with all 500 of her closest friends
Secret is a synonym for intimate in private topic. In some cases you can use "Secret" instead the word "Intimate" as an adjective or a noun, when it comes to topics like restricted, inner, personal.
Secret
Secret adjective - Not known or meant to be known by the general populace.
Usage example: proprietary information that the company does its best to keep secret
Intimate is a synonym for secret in restricted topic. You can use "Intimate" instead the word "Secret" as an adjective or a noun, if it concerns topics such as inner.
Mutual synonyms
Both words in one sentence
- Laurie and Jon's relationship is public, with no privacy, physical intimacy or affection, while HJ and Nelly's was secret and private, and the two men are obviously very intimate with each other.
Source: He's Just Hiding -
Liz and Pete sneak around to find a new cast member, and eventually, to keep this a secret, they claimed to be in an intimate relationship.
Source: Embarrassing Cover Up -
Men Women And Children makes use of this a lot, often in crowd scenes to showcase all the intimate (or mundane) secret thoughts going on in people's heads.
Source: Pop-Up Texting
Cite this Source
Secret and Intimate. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/intimate/secret
Intimate & Secret. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/intimate/secret>.
Secret or Intimate. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/intimate/secret.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "intimate" and "secret" have occurred on timeline