the.com/secret weapon
The person or trick you downplay in meetings but pray never leaves.
means A hidden advantage, skill, or resource held in reserve and deployed to win when it matters most.
from A straightforward compound of 'secret' (Latin secretus, 'set apart, hidden,' from secernere, 'to separate') and 'weapon' (Old English wæpn). The literal military sense — an undisclosed new arm that could win a war before the enemy could counter it — became common talk in the 20th century, especially around wartime technology, and from there leapt happily into sports, business, and gossip about who's actually doing the work.
- irony
- loses power the moment you announce it
- often
- an underestimated intern or overlooked spreadsheet
- military origin
- WWII propaganda term for unproven superweapons
- best used
- sparingly, then everyone wants their own