cover story

noun

1. a magazine article highlighted by an illustration on the cover.

2. a fabricated story used to conceal a true purpose; alibi.

   No one believed the cover story released to the press.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cover story¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Idioms and Phrases

A featured story in a magazine that concerns the illustration on the cover, as in The earthquake is this week's cover story for all the news magazines . [Mid-1900s]

A false story intended to mislead or deceive; also, an alibi. For example, Their cover story while investigating local repair services was that they had just bought the house and were having problems, or The suspect gave the police some cover story about being held up . [Mid-1900s]

Related Words

• alibi 
• apology 
• justification 
• pretext 
• rationalization 
• substitute 
• trick