When you're incognito, you're deliberately hiding your identity or trying not to be recognized. It describes someone who doesn't want others to know who they really are.

A famous actor might go incognito by wearing sunglasses, a baseball cap, and ordinary clothes so they can walk through a mall without being mobbed by fans. A princess traveling in disguise to see how ordinary people live would be traveling incognito. When you're browsing the internet in “incognito mode,” your web browser doesn't save your history.

Going incognito isn't necessarily sneaky or dishonest. Sometimes people have good reasons to keep their identity private: maybe they want a break from attention, need to observe something without influencing it, or simply want to experience life without special treatment. A teacher might go incognito as a substitute at another school to learn new teaching methods without everyone acting differently because they know who she is.

The word suggests a deliberate choice to blend in or stay anonymous, different from simply being unknown. You're not incognito if nobody knows you yet. You're incognito when people might recognize you, but you're actively working to prevent that.