gloss over


verb(tr, adverb)
  1. to hide under a deceptively attractive surface or appearance

  2. to deal with (unpleasant facts) rapidly and cursorily, or to omit them altogether from an account of something

Words Nearby gloss over

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use gloss over in a sentence

  • There was no attempt made to gloss over ugly transactions with a veneer of morality.

    Richard Carvel, Complete | Winston Churchill
  • In this romanceless, colorless dreariness it was not easy for Mamise to gloss over the details of her meeting with Nicky Easton.

    The Cup of Fury | Rupert Hughes
  • There was no attempt to gloss over the facts, and deceive himself.

    Ravenshoe | Henry Kingsley
  • Perhaps that is a slight exaggeration--we did gloss over a few centuries in the Middle Ages.

    A Preface to Politics | Walter Lippmann
  • That is one advantage of women, she told herself, after twenty-five they gloss over their birthdays like improprieties.

    Mrs. Craddock | W. Somerset Maugham

Other Idioms and Phrases with gloss over

gloss over

Make attractive or acceptable by deception or superficial treatment. For example, His resumé glossed over his lack of experience, or She tried to gloss over the mistake by insisting it would make no difference. [Mid-1600s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.