gloss over
Britishverb
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to hide under a deceptively attractive surface or appearance
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to deal with (unpleasant facts) rapidly and cursorily, or to omit them altogether from an account of something
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.
That also has unsettling contextual implications that the writers can’t gloss over.
From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2026
It was the kind of routine email that employees would normally gloss over.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 20, 2026
If you’re in early retirement — or close to it — you don’t want to gloss over the announcement of new tax brackets for 2026 as next year’s problem.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2025
“The internet has always allowed us to participate in mass nostalgia,” Lorenz said, because “social media encourages us to gloss over the bad.”
From Slate ● Nov. 13, 2024
“Come here, Morg,” she said, and she ran the lip gloss over Morgan’s lips.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
