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:
Their ventures were most successful when they spilled royal secrets, offering peeks behind the palace curtain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Behind the curtain: the new existential threat to AI.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
Speaking of her love of the arts to the same newspaper, Law joked: "I've got to have my funeral in the afternoon, curtain up 2.30pm, so people can get to the theatre afterwards."
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Meanwhile, Paramount is urging us to pay no attention to the Ellisons behind the curtain.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026
She handed me a costume, and I dove behind the bright yellow curtain I’d just helped hang.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
Clarke says the effect can be made even cosier by pairing lighting with soft furnishings, such as floor-to-ceiling curtains and scatter cushions in different colours and patterns.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
She added: "We initially had to play inside in darkness with the curtains closed before getting the UV-resistant film on our windows."
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Thick, red curtains adorned the “window,” which the man used to peer outside.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
On sunny days, keep curtains or blinds closed on sun-facing windows.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
The sheer curtains drawn over the windows look creamy in the moonlight.
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
Mr. Noseda seems slightly amused by the weirdness of these curtained interviews.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
When they got closer - the entrance to the cave had been curtained off with brightly coloured saris - they saw a "little blonde girl" running out.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2025
In a dazzling prelude, a fashion film starring Margaret Qualley, the actress and daughter of Andie MacDowell, illuminated the runway’s curtained walls with a whimsical narrative directed by Dave Free.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 23, 2024
Unlike the previous dining occupant, Lincoln Center Kitchen, Tatiana will be walled-off from the main hall, not spread out among its marble floors or tucked into a curtained nook.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 6, 2022
A nurse appeared and disappeared through the tattered- curtained doctor’s door.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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
She welcomed the movement in the folds of the curtaining mist that betokened a prospect of lifting and liberating the house-bound coterie.
From The Ordeal A Mountain Romance of Tennessee by Douglas Duer
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.
