ninja

n. a person from Japanese history trained in secret fighting, hiding, and moving silently.

n. a member of a class of 14th-century Japanese mercenaries trained in ninjutsu for espionage and assassination.

“The movie features a ninja who sneaks into the castle at night.”

“Historical accounts of the ninja often blend folklore with reality, emphasizing their supposed ability to vanish using smoke and mirrors.”

n. someone who is very good at a difficult job, especially in tech or business.

n. a person who displays exceptional skill or agility in a specific professional field, often used in job titles or informal praise.

“Our office manager is a spreadsheet ninja who can fix any error.”

“The company is looking to hire a coding ninja who can refactor their legacy codebase without disrupting the user experience.”

Informal

v. to move very quietly and quickly so that nobody sees you.

v. to move or perform an action with extreme stealth, speed, or agility.

“I managed to ninja my way out of the meeting before they gave me more work.”

“He managed to ninja into the kitchen and grab a snack without waking the sleeping dogs.”

Informal

v. to post a reply on a forum just seconds before someone else does.

v. to preempt another user's response in an online forum or chat by posting a similar comment moments earlier.

“I was going to give the answer, but you ninja'd me.”

“It is common in fast-moving threads for several users to be ninja'd while attempting to provide the same technical solution.”

Slang

adj. done in a very quiet or secret way.

adj. characterised by stealth or an inconspicuous nature.

“She made a ninja exit from the party because she was too tired to say goodbye.”

“The software update included several ninja features that weren't mentioned in the official release notes.”

Informal