ocultado

Ocultado is the past participle of the Spanish verb ocultar, meaning hidden or concealed. As an adjective it describes something that has been kept out of sight or not disclosed. It can modify nouns: archivo ocultado, secreto ocultado.

Etymology: the term comes from Latin occultus, meaning hidden or secret, through the verb ocultar in Old and Modern Spanish. The sense of concealment underlies its common usage in both everyday language and formal contexts.

Usage: common collocations include información ocultada (information hidden or withheld), documentos ocultados (withheld documents), and lo ocultado (the hidden thing). In journalism and politics, ocultado can imply deliberate concealment. In many cases the verb phrase está ocultado is used in passive constructions, though more frequent is está oculto.

Variants and related terms: related words include ocultación and ocultamiento, both referring to the act or state of concealing. Synonyms such as esconder (to hide) are closely related but differ in nuance. In technical fields, datos ocultados may refer to data that has been obfuscated or redacted to protect privacy or security.

See also: ocultar, ocultación, ocultamiento.