overt

/ˈoʊvərt/

/ˈʌʊvət/

Overt means open and done in plain sight. An overt demand for an increase in your allowance probably won't work; instead, try praising your parents' generosity and dropping hints about how high prices are these days.

If you speak French, remember that overt is the same as the French ouvert "open." If you don't speak French, give up all hope of ever learning this word. Just kidding — forgive the overt attempt at humor. English speakers, here's your trick for remembering the difference between overt and covert: overt = "open"; covert = "covered."

Definitions of overt

1. adjective

   open and observable; not secret or hidden
   “an overt lie”

   “overt hostility”

   “overt intelligence gathering”

   synonyms: open

   explicit, expressed

   precisely and clearly expressed or readily observable; leaving nothing to implication

   bald, barefaced

   with no effort to conceal

   naked, raw

   devoid of elaboration or diminution or concealment; bare and pure

   undisguised

   plain to see

   visible

   obvious to the eye

   public

   not private; open to or concerning the people as a whole

   unconcealed

   not concealed or hidden

   antonyms:

   covert

   secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed

   implicit, inexplicit

   implied though not directly expressed; inherent in the nature of something

   backstair, backstairs, furtive

   secret and sly

   black

   (of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading

   clandestine, cloak-and-dagger, hole-and-corner, hugger-mugger, hush-hush, secret, surreptitious, undercover, underground

   conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods

   secret

   indulging only covertly

   collusive, conniving

   acting together in secret toward a fraudulent or illegal end

   cloaked, disguised, masked

   having its true character concealed with the intent of misleading

   secret

   communicated covertly

   behind-the-scenes, sub-rosa, under-the-table

   designed and carried out secretly or confidentially

   subterranean, subterraneous, ulterior

   lying beyond what is openly revealed or avowed (especially being kept in the background or deliberately concealed)

   under wraps

   kept secret

   undisclosed, unrevealed

   not made known

   concealed

   hidden on any grounds for any motive

   invisible, unseeable

   impossible or nearly impossible to see; imperceptible by the eye