cover story
Americannoun
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a magazine article highlighted by an illustration on the cover.
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a fabricated story used to conceal a true purpose; alibi.
No one believed the cover story released to the press.
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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]
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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]
Etymology
Origin of cover story
First recorded in 1945–50
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.
Fortune pondered whether Sam Bankman-Fried was “The Next Warren Buffett?” in a cover story mere months before the collapse of his crypto exchange FTX in 2022.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
In her “Vanity Fair” cover story last year, Charli told writer Anna Peele that she turned down a Brat Tour documentary, despite her label pressuring her to make one.
From Salon • Feb. 8, 2026
Nobody I talked to for this week’s Barron’s cover story can either.
From Barron's • Jan. 27, 2026
"I made up a cover story, moved away and didn't look back," she told the court.
From BBC • Dec. 4, 2025
Scope magazine’s cover story about Zlata Filipovic last spring inspired me to read her diary about war-torn Bosnia.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
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.
