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

On Nov. 1, 2024, a canopy collapsed at the newly renovated train station in Serbia’s second city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026

It took her and her family a full month to build the structure, which included a free-standing canopy where the papel picado hung.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

"We were underneath the jungle canopy, because we were staying with a small community, and then it took me about 20 hours before I could get out the first message," he said.

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026

Sunday's historic victory by the student-backed list came after two years of protests sparked by the 2024 collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad that killed 16 people.

From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026

Koffi stepped into a ray of sunlight dappling through the jungle’s canopy.

From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray

However, thick smoke, persistent cloud cover, and dense tree canopies can interfere with those measurements.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 18, 2026

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

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

But heightened concerns about the health effects of sun exposure have brought an ever-growing number of tents, canopies and other products.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026

Sometimes Stella tells stories of her childhood, of leafy canopies hidden by mist and the busy songs of flowing water.

From "The One and Only Ivan" by Katherine Applegate

To kill some time before cocktail hour, I visited the free Richelieu Library, where I joined other tourists peering into the Labrouste Room, canopied with a Byzantine-inspired nine-dome ceiling.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 2026

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2024

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

I want her world to be canopied by moonlight and the breathtaking Milky Way.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 1, 2023

I found the nearest bedroom and crashed on the canopied bed.

From "The Last Olympian" by Rick Riordan

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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