curtain
Americannoun
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curtains
plural
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a hanging piece of fabric used to shut out the light from a window, adorn a room, increase privacy, etc.
- Synonyms:
- valance, lambrequin, portiere, drapery
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a movable or folding screen used for similar purposes.
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Chiefly New England. a window shade.
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Theater.
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a set of hanging drapery for concealing all or part of the stage or set from the view of the audience.
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the act or time of raising or opening a curtain at the start of a performance.
an 8:30 curtain.
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the end of a scene or act indicated by the closing or falling of a curtain.
first-act curtain.
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an effect, line, or plot solution at the conclusion of a performance.
a strong curtain; weak curtain.
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music signaling the end of a radio or television performance.
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(used as a direction in a script of a play to indicate that a scene or act is concluded.)
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anything that shuts off, covers, or conceals.
a curtain of artillery fire.
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Architecture. a relatively flat or featureless extent of wall between two pavilions or the like.
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Fortification. the part of a wall or rampart connecting two bastions, towers, or the like.
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Slang. curtains, the end; death, especially by violence.
It looked like curtains for another mobster.
verb (used with object)
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curtains,
present (3rd person singular)
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curtained,
past participle, past
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curtaining
present participle
idioms
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draw the curtain on / over,
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to bring to a close.
to draw the curtain on a long career of public service.
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to keep secret.
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lift the curtain on,
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to commence; start.
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to make known or public; disclose.
to lift the curtain on a new scientific discovery.
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noun
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a piece of material that can be drawn across an opening or window, to shut out light or to provide privacy
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a barrier to vision, access, or communication
a curtain of secrecy
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a hanging cloth or similar barrier for concealing all or part of a theatre stage from the audience
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the end of a scene of a play, opera, etc, marked by the fall or closing of the curtain
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the rise or opening of the curtain at the start of a performance
verb
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to shut off or conceal with or as if with a curtain
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(tr) to provide (a window, etc) with curtains
Usage
What does curtain mean? A curtain is a sheet of fabric that’s typically hung from the wall or ceiling to cover or decorate a window or to separate two spaces, such as a theater’s stage from its seating area. Along with blinds and shades, curtains are commonly used as window coverings in people’s homes. They can function to block light from the window, to cover it for privacy, or simply as decorations. In the context of theater, curtain has several more specific uses. The literal curtain on a stage is used to conceal the stage until the performance is ready to be seen. The word is also used in a few figurative ways. It can refer to the starting time of a performance, as in Curtain is at 2 p.m. or We have a 7 o’clock curtain. This sense of the word refers to the when the literal curtain opens. Another sense of the word refers to when the curtain closes—it refers to the end of a scene or act, as in the second-act curtain. Curtain can also refer to the conclusion of a performance or a plot solution at the end, as in I liked the play, but I thought the curtain was weak. The fact that most plays end with the stage curtains being closed has led to the use of the word curtains as a slang expression referring to the end or death of something, often in an exaggerated way, as in It will be curtains for me if I don’t pass this test. A curtain call is when the performers return to the stage to acknowledge continued applause from the audience at the end of the performance (often after the curtain has closed). Example: I got a blackout curtain for my room that doesn’t let any sunlight in.
Synonym Usage
Curtain, blind, shade, shutter agree in being covers for a window, to shut out light or keep persons from looking in. Curtain, blind, and shade may mean a cover, usually of cloth, which can be rolled up and down inside the window. Curtain, however, may also refer to a drapery at a window; and a Venetian blind consists of slats mounted on tapes for drawing up or down and varying the pitch of the slats. Blind and shutter may mean a cover made of two wooden frames with movable slats, attached by hinges outside a window and pulled together or opened at will. Shutters may mean also a set of panels (wooden or iron) put up outside small shops or stores at closing time
Regionalisms
See window shade.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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curtainsimple
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curtainssimple
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have curtainedperfect
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has curtainedperfect
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am curtainingprogressive
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are curtainingprogressive
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is curtainingprogressive
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have been curtainingperfect progressive
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has been curtainingperfect progressive
Past
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curtainedsimple
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had curtainedperfect
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was curtainingprogressive
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were curtainingprogressive
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had been curtainingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of curtain
1250–1300; Middle English co ( u ) rtine < Anglo-French, Old French < Late Latin cortīna, probably equivalent to co ( ho ) rt- (stem of cohors; see court) + -īna -ine 1, as calque of Greek aulaía curtain, derivative of aulḗ courtyard
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 70-foot-wide curtain painstakingly created by L.A. artist Enrique Martínez Celaya is a surprising choice for a major opera house where one would expect a pattern or imagery related to storytelling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
The new curtain is not the artist’s first brush with classical music.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
Light-sensitive, “Invasion Picture” was installed in Atlanta behind a burgundy velvet curtain, beside photographs of fortunetellers’ façades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Equally fascinating was his pulling back the curtain, so to speak, on the culture of football, particularly the NFL, where the expectation for players is to follow orders and “shut up and play.”
From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2026
The grizzly staggered through a curtain of smoke.
From "I Survived the Great Alaska Earthquake, 1964" by Lauren Tarshis
The Audi team relies on hotel-provided black curtains, which McNish said are good but imperfect.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Just when you think you’ve made it through, the exhibition has one last gruesome touch: To escape, you have to push your way through a set of bloody butcher curtains.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
A prolific artist, Max created marketable work that was licensed for many consumer products, from shower curtains to planes and cruise ships, and even a line of "art clocks" commissioned by General Electric.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
But fearmongers are jumping even further ahead and saying that once AGI exists, it could mean curtains for the human species.
From Salon ● Sep. 16, 2026
I could offer to draw the curtains but I know she’s speaking in euphemisms; no amount of drawn curtains could make my room presentable for the subscribers to Bell System.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Mr. Noseda seems slightly amused by the weirdness of these curtained interviews.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
The atmosphere among a crowd of just over 6,000 - in a 24,000-capacity arena where the upper tier was curtained off - was muted at times during the doubles.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2024
Many people spoke to the room outside of the curtained area, but what they said was not included as official testimony.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 3, 2023
How heavily the rain fell could be inferred from how well it curtained our view of objects in the landscape.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 16, 2022
It was a sight to see—the bright-painted wagons with little curtained windows, and the horses decorated with tassels and silver beads.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
He can no longer hold back this rage that he has been curtaining off with these civil gestures.
From Salon ● Jan. 25, 2023
Cedars-Sinai has recruited more staff and expanded areas to care for patients, including curtaining off places in the hospital as “alternative care units.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 13, 2022
The curtaining of the Carnegie disappointed a stream of hungry would-be customers on Monday, many of them tourists who went out of their way to test their tolerance for protein.
From New York Times ● Apr. 27, 2015
Most householders and shopkeepers had already voluntarily followed the Government's request by extinguishing outside lights, curtaining windows, painting over skylights.
From Time Magazine Archive
Fortunately dusk was at hand, though the curtaining darkness would not fall for some time.
From The Secret Wireless or, The Spy Hunt of the Camp Brady Patrol by Lewis E. Theiss
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.
