canopy

American  

[kan-uh-pee] / ˈkæn ə pi /

noun

• canopies
  plural

1. a covering, usually of fabric, supported on poles or suspended above a bed, throne, exalted personage, or sacred object.

2. an overhanging projection or covering, as a long canvas awning stretching from the doorway of a building to a curb.

3. an ornamental, rooflike projection or covering.

4. Also called crown cover, crown canopy;. the cover formed by the leafy upper branches of the trees in a forest.

5. the sky.

6. the part of a parachute that opens up and fills with air, usually made of nylon or silk.

7. the transparent cover over the cockpit of an airplane.

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verb (used with object)

canopied, canopying

1. to cover with or as with a canopy.

   Branches canopied the road.

canopy British  

/ ˈkænəpɪ /

noun

1. an ornamental awning above a throne or bed or held over a person of importance on ceremonial occasions

2. a rooflike covering over an altar, niche, etc

3. a roofed structure serving as a sheltered passageway or area

4. a large or wide covering, esp one high above

   the sky was a grey canopy

5. the nylon or silk hemisphere that forms the supporting surface of a parachute

6. the transparent cover of an aircraft cockpit

7. the highest level of branches and foliage in a forest, formed by the crowns of the trees

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verb

1. (tr) to cover with or as if with a canopy

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• supercanopy
  noun
• uncanopied
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• canopies
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of canopy

1350–1400; Middle English canope < Medieval Latin canōpēum, variant of Latin cōnōpēum mosquito net < Greek kōnōpeîon bed with net to keep gnats off, equivalent to kṓnōp ( s ) gnat + -eion, neuter of -eios adj. suffix

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Explanation

A canopy is a roof-like covering for a bed, made of fabric. A lot of little girls dream of having a four-poster bed with a ruffled canopy. Any fabric cover that acts as a roof can be called a canopy, and so can something resembling such a covering, like a canopy of leaves created by trees. The Greek word that's at the root of canopy is konopeion, which means "Egyptian couch with mosquito curtains." The Old French conope, which evolved into today's canopy, originally meant "bed-curtain."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

canopy canopies canopied canopying

Aboard the popemobile, the smiling pontiff blessed several babies and waved to worshippers, as he made his way from the Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Concorde, where a giant white canopy was installed.

From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026

From Virginia to north Florida and west to Texas, tens of millions of denuded acres were planted with rows of pine, restoring the region’s canopy and creating a new asset class.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

In other footage, the Israeli forces appear to have confiscated the canopy under which the settlers were sheltering, while leaving their other equipment.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

“Thick tree cover made it difficult for the helicopter crew to see through the canopy, adding another challenge to locating the victim,” officials stated in a post on Facebook.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

While Winnie monopolized Brigit, Ella went to her bedroom and opened her little red door to find the family's dirt dobbin perched on the canopy of her bed.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

Building sites, for example, must provide workers with suitable clothing such as jackets with built-in fans, as well as air-conditioned break rooms and canopies to ensure shade.

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

Their thick bark and elevated canopies offer protection, while smaller fires clear vegetation, recycle nutrients, and create conditions that help new sequoias grow.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026

I saw canopies of Iraqi flags, bodies out every window, everyone dancing to a faint hip-hop pulse.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

The company said it has been in Garden Grove since 1966, and more than 500 employees work at the facility, which manufactures windows and canopies for aircraft and spacecraft.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026

She invented “rest time,” a period of endless inactivity stretching out after school and lunch, in which we were ordered to stay in our beds, under our mosquito-net canopies.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

The city seal is a tree and residents say the canopied streets are major contributors to the quality of life.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026

The address is now a canopied driveway of a large adjacent house.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2024

Three or four times as many CBP field operations officers in navy blue uniforms helped the migrants into white vans for a short drive to a canopied field intake center.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 9, 2023

Surrounded by hundreds of police officers and supporters, they hunker down inside a canopied structure made of blue tarpaulin sheets that serves as a tent.

From BBC ● May 22, 2023

It was a very grey day; a most opaque sky, “onding on snaw,” canopied all; thence flakes fell at intervals, which settled on the hard path and on the hoary lea without melting.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

The latter had become known at the Nest, solely by the circumstance that the object which had so lately canopied aristocracy in St. Andrew's, Ravensrest, was now canopying pigs up at the farm house.

From The Chainbearer Or, The Littlepage Manuscripts by James Fenimore Cooper

Under the canopying smoke of London or Edinburgh, even amongst the beautiful fields of England or Scotland, there is nothing to be made of him.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 354, April 1845 by Various

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