hide
1 Americanverb (used with object)
-
to conceal from sight; prevent from being seen or discovered.
Where did she hide her jewels?
-
to obstruct the view of; cover up.
The sun was hidden by the clouds.
-
to conceal from knowledge or exposure; keep secret.
to hide one's feelings.
verb (used without object)
noun
verb phrase
noun
-
the pelt or skin of one of the larger animals (cow, horse, buffalo, etc.), raw or dressed.
-
Informal.
-
the skin of a human being.
Get out of here or I'll tan your hide!
-
safety or welfare.
He's only worried about his own hide.
-
-
Australia and New Zealand Informal. impertinence; impudence.
verb (used with object)
-
Informal. to administer a beating to; thrash.
-
to protect (a rope, as a boltrope of a sail) with a covering of leather.
idioms
noun
verb
-
to put or keep (oneself or an object) in a secret place; conceal (oneself or an object) from view or discovery
to hide a pencil
to hide from the police
-
(tr) to conceal or obscure
the clouds hid the sun
-
(tr) to keep secret
-
(tr) to turn (one's head, eyes, etc) away
noun
noun
-
the skin of an animal, esp the tough thick skin of a large mammal, either tanned or raw
-
informal the human skin
-
informal impudence
verb
noun
Synonym Usage
Hide, conceal, secrete mean to put out of sight or in a secret place. Hide is the general word: to hide one's money or purpose; A dog hides a bone. Conceal, somewhat more formal, is to cover from sight: A rock concealed them from view. Secrete means to put away carefully, in order to keep secret: The spy secreted the important papers.
See skin.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hide1
First recorded before 900; Middle English hiden, Old English hȳdan; cognate with Old Frisian hūda; akin to Greek keúthein “to hide”; see also hide 2 ( def. )
Origin of hide2
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English hȳd; cognate with Dutch huid, Old Norse hūth, Danish, Swedish hud, Old High German hūt ( German Haut ); akin to Latin cutis “skin,” Greek kýtos “hollow, container”; see also cutis, hide 1
Origin of hide3
First recorded before 900; Middle English hide, Old English hīd(e), hīg(i)d “portion of land, family,” from Germanic hīwidō; akin to Latin cīvis “citizen,” Greek keîsthai “to lie down, rest, remain, abide”
Explanation
You can hide your feelings or you can hide your mom’s birthday present. You can even hide yourself if you need to avoid someone. Whatever it is, when you hide something, you put it out of sight. Hide can mean that you keep something secret, like the way you really feel about your dad’s meatloaf. You can also hide something physical. If you spill juice on your white sofa, you can hide the stain with a pillow. Sometimes people hide also — that means the person stays out of sight. A bankrobber will hide from the police, or you might hide from your mom to avoid doing the dishes.
Vocabulary lists containing hide
Easter Vocabulary
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"When Cultures Meet"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Thompson’s framework does not allow individual lawmakers to hide behind presidential leadership, party discipline or collective decisions.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026
Alonso and Ocon also fell out and the Spanish icon did not trouble to hide his distaste for his team-mate's behaviour at times.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
She also made electronic transfers into accounts she controlled and falsified financial entries in an effort to hide her tracks, according to prosecutors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
Averages can hide a lot of detail — like when Bill Gates walks into a bar and the “average” net worth of the occupants suddenly jumps into the billions of dollars.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026
What is the Scrollr scribe trying to hide about Rachel!
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
In fact, an entire genus of vertebrate hid there, misidentified, until a CT scanner settled the question.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
He recalled visiting his mother in the hospital during her illness, describing how she hid her leg under a blanket and joked that doctors had mistakenly amputated it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026
We wore KN95 masks—a modern version of the plague doctor beaks—and hid in our houses, and saw our hospitals overflow, and couldn’t be with our loved ones when they died.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026
Comically, he hid the sandpaper inside his trousers.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Rin was somewhere there below, but the cloud hid it from view.
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
It’s a well-intentioned, heart-in-the-right-place movie — but is that what this ornery tale of angry activists upending a social order designed to keep them hidden ultimately deserves?
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
It added the judge who made the original confiscation order was entitled to conclude that by the time Patel absconded in 2011, he would have had "many millions of truly hidden assets".
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
Many files are believed to have been destroyed during the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, or hidden during the months-long peaceful transition to democracy.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2026
Satellites orbiting at other positions don’t reflect sunlight because they’re hidden by Earth’s shadow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
“Planning to capture Booth when he did his walk-through of all the hidden exits of the theater earlier that day. Tricky one, that; took us multiple jumps to figure out.”
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
The moment the sound of raucous singing had hided around the corner, he slipped out of the gate and ran in the opposite direction.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Ve let it stay hided in der cave undil dis drouble is all over und den it vill be easy to get it avay from der island, yoost so quiet.
From The Man from Brodney's by George Barr McCutcheon
"The landlord," added the speaker in his imperfect English, "has entirely hided himself from the Page 30 business."
From The Foundations of Japan Notes Made During Journeys Of 6,000 Miles In The Rural Districts As A Basis For A Sounder Knowledge Of The Japanese People by J.W. Robertson Scott
Sometimes they hided her for an hour together.
From The House of the Dead or Prison Life in Siberia with an introduction by Julius Bramont by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
By a friendly Dutchman guided, A Van Eloff or De Vilier, They were promptly trapped and hided, In a manner too familiar.
From Songs Of The Road by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Prosecutors denied withholding messages, saying in a filing a week later that, “contrary to the defense’s insinuation,” they were not hiding Ortiz’s messages.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
She now lives abroad in hiding, describing herself as a "one-woman army fighting the regime".
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026
Kamrul Hasan, general secretary of the Ekota Garments Sramik Federation, told AFP Monday that some labour leaders had gone into hiding.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
Now, researchers have uncovered a surprising explanation for a signal that once suggested a giant planet was hiding there.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
I said, barely hiding the disgust in my voice.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
