cover story

American  

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.

---

cover story Idioms  

1. 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]

2. 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

The first Bulletin cover story on climate change was in 1978 — a long time before anybody else was looking at it.

From Salon • Jun. 15, 2026

If Spielberg’s earlier UFO movies gave us awe, comfort and catastrophe, this one feels like an encounter of a fourth kind: What happens when the cover story breaks?

From Los Angeles Times • May 14, 2026

In the last few days, Palantir's UK boss Louis Mosley turned to X to attack a critical cover story in the BMA's British Medical Journal.

From BBC • Apr. 24, 2026

Pozen points out that Microsoft, the subject of a recent Barron’s cover story, trades at just 16 times 2028 earnings, its lowest valuation relative to the S&P 500 in a decade.

From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026

Because he was traveling under a different cover story, Mother split up from the group at the Gare du Nord.

From "City Spies" by James Ponti

Related Words

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