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in petto. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
in petto, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in petto in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
in petto you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian in petto (“in the chest”).
Adjective
in petto (not comparable)
- Secret, private.
1837, Capt. Marryat, “Snarleyyow; or, the Dog Fiend”, in The Metropolitan magazine, volume 18, page 18:[…] it was not unfrequent for a good bargain to be struck with him by one or more of the public functionaries, the difference between the sum proposed and accepted being settled against the interests of Mynheer Krause, by the party putting him in possession of some government movement which hitherto been kept in petto.
1838, “War in Disguise”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, volume 44, number 278, page 718:[…] in its nine members, stand prominently personified indolence and ignorance consummate, solemn pedantry and petulance in petto, upstart self-conceit and high-born arrogance all-blustering, self-sufficiency all smirking, and solid acres in all their stolidity, the remnant of vigour on crutches, and of saintly talent ever dozing—all this is indeed prophetic of wo to the land.
1979, Frank Edward Manuel, Fritzie Prigohzy Manuel, Utopian Thought in the Western World, →ISBN, page 271:The City of the Sun was a model in petto for the whole earth.
- (Roman Catholicism) Designated as a cardinal but not yet announced.
1845, Eliakim Littell, Robert S. Littell, “Metternich”, in The Living Age:In future you will have the right to dress in red — indeed, you are already cardinal in petto, and you will be proclaimed at the next conclave.
Usage notes
As an adjective, in petto usually follows the noun to be modified.
Synonyms
Translations
Adverb
in petto (not comparable)
- Privately, in secret.
1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Reminiscences”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. , London: Chapman and Hall, , →OCLC, 1st book, page 10:And yet, thou brave Teufelsdröckh, who could tell what lurked in thee? […] The secrets of man’s Life were laid open to thee; thou sawest into the mystery of the Universe, farther than another; thou hadst in petto thy remarkable Volume on Clothes.
1834 June 7, “News of the Week”, in The Spectator, number 310:Ministers and their Majority had a rejoinder in petto, as we have explained above; but it was one which they could not for shame avow, though they voted on the strength of it.
1997, Gérard Genette, Paratext: Thresholds of Interpretation, →ISBN, page 190:In the same department as the suspect allographic prefaces we will naturally put many a “Notice from the Publisher [or Editor],” […] which we will meet again and which we have every reason to attribute in petto (but only in petto) to the author.
Synonyms
Translations
Anagrams
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian in petto (“in chest”).
Pronunciation
Adverb
in petto
- in store
German
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian in petto (“in chest”).
Pronunciation
Adverb
in petto
- (somewhat informal, generally with haben) in store; in reserve; up one's sleeve