# classified

Pronunciation: US say "KLAS-uh-fyd" /ˈklæsəfaɪd/; UK say "KLAS-i-fyd" /ˈklæsɪfaɪd/

## Adjective

1. Given an official government secrecy level (such as top secret, secret, or confidential) making it illegal to share with unauthorized people.
   - Simple: Marked secret by a government so only certain people are allowed to see it.
   - _The classified documents were stored in a vault that few employees could access._
   - _Several findings in the investigation remain classified for national security reasons._
3. Arranged into classes or categories.
   - Simple: Sorted into groups by type or kind.
   - _The classified records made it easy to find any single entry._
   - _Once classified by species, the plants were far simpler to study._
5. Intended to be kept secret by a person or organization.
   - Simple: Kept secret and not meant to be shared with others.
   - _Internal salary figures were treated as classified by senior management._
   - _The negotiations remained strictly classified within the family firm._

## Verb

2. Simple past and past participle of classify. — simple past and past participle of classify
   - Simple: Simple past and past participle of classify. Use this form for sorting that already happened.
   - _The biologist classified each specimen before sending it to the lab._
   - _Tax officials classified the income under a different category._

## Noun

4. A small advertisement in a newspaper or magazine, usually grouped with others of the same category. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A small newspaper ad placed to sell or find something.
   - _He ran a classified for two weeks before the couch finally sold._
   - _A single classified in the Sunday edition brought in a dozen calls._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–3, 5** — Formed from the verb "classify" plus the suffix "-ed".
**Meaning 4** — A shortening of "classified advertisement".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/classified (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).