cloak
Americannoun
-
cloaks
plural
verb (used with object)
-
cloaks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cloaked,
past participle, past
-
cloaking
present participle
-
to cover with or as if with a cloak.
She arrived at the opera cloaked in green velvet.
-
to hide; conceal.
The mission was cloaked in mystery.
noun
-
a wraplike outer garment fastened at the throat and falling straight from the shoulders
-
something that covers or conceals
verb
-
to cover with or as if with a cloak
-
to hide or disguise
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
cloaksimple
-
cloakssimple
-
have cloakedperfect
-
has cloakedperfect
-
am cloakingprogressive
-
are cloakingprogressive
-
is cloakingprogressive
-
have been cloakingperfect progressive
-
has been cloakingperfect progressive
Past
-
cloakedsimple
-
had cloakedperfect
-
was cloakingprogressive
-
were cloakingprogressive
-
had been cloakingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cloak
1175–1225; Middle English cloke (< Old French ) < Medieval Latin cloca, variant of clocca bell-shaped cape, bell; see clock 1
Explanation
A cloak is anything that conceals or hides something, like an over-sized, dark raincoat you wear when you don't want your friends to see you're going to the movies without them. As a noun, a cloak is usually a loose piece of clothing that you wear over your other clothes, like a cape or a gown. It especially refers to an outer garment that you might wear while traveling in order to protect your outfit or to conceal your identity. As a verb, to cloak is to conceal or hide something. If you were a famous person who wanted to go out alone, you might cloak your identity with a cloak.
Vocabulary lists containing cloak
The Balcony Scene from "Romeo and Juliet"
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"Encounter"
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Unit 2: Pivotal Words and Phrases
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The invisibility offered a protective cloak, allowing his existential confessionals to develop free of the expectations placed upon Sage Elsesser, pro skateboarder.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
Like Maddie, she can easily cloak compulsions under the blanket of modern body positivity.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026
They wanted to be able to cloak this in the air of legitimacy, when it has nothing to do with what a real lawsuit would look like.
From Slate ● Jun. 9, 2026
“You won’t be in the shadows forever,” Blake tells his intrepid team members—who, like the real-life Mr. Stanton, still maintain the cloak, if not the dagger.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
A man leaned casually against the wall of the giant’s mouth, dressed in black armor from head to foot, a midnight-blue cloak covering the armor and the man’s head.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
Throughout the holy city, Iranian flags can be seen printed on white pilgrims' garments, cloaks, bags and buses.
From Barron's ● May 25, 2026
"At night, we had to put on anti-drone cloaks to protect us against thermal cameras, but they would last for 20 minutes at the most."
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
Michael Jackson’s celebrity is so blinding, his music so compelling, that it cloaks him with an almost impenetrable shield from the truth: He was a stone cold pedophile.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
These thick cloaks of dust might dim the stars' light to the point of utter undetectability.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 9, 2025
But these were sacred figures in rich velvet capes and glittery robes and shepherds' cloaks beautifully stitched to look ragged with patches by the Carmelite nuns.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
Century-old El Floridita is cloaked with metal shutters.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
Whatever happens will be cloaked in lies — and followed by gaslighting.
From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2026
Ms. Winger has always been a film actor of luminous transparency; her performance here, by contrast, feels cloaked in artifice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
"We shouldn't just think dinosaurs are mammals cloaked in scales and feathers," Holtz said.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 27, 2026
Each of the hobbits saw in his mind a vision of the cloaked and booted Riders.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
I’m including the comments in full because of how out of character they were for a Fed chair best known for cloaking his future decisions:
From Barron's ● Mar. 18, 2026
These days, society’s most dangerous villains don’t bother with cloaking themselves despite what the conspiracy-minded choose to believe.
From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2025
In one memorable case, a pilot lost his bearings after a plane above and in front of him dumped its load of retardant on his windshield, cloaking his view.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2024
The researchers found they could accomplish this by "cloaking" the proteins with a negatively charged ion, so they would join with the positively charged lipids electrostatically.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2024
Even though Mom’s voice is unwavering, and despite the darkness cloaking the car, I sense her tension.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
