paper over

British  

verb

1. (tr, adverb) to conceal (something controversial or unpleasant)

---

paper over Idioms  

1. Also, paper over the cracks. Repair superficially, conceal, especially flaws. For example, He used some accounting gimmicks to paper over a deficit, or It was hardly a perfect settlement, but they decided to paper over the cracks. The German statesman Otto von Bismarck first used this analogy in a letter in 1865, and the first recorded example in English, in 1910, referred to it. The allusion is to covering cracked plaster with wallpaper, thereby improving its appearance but not the underlying defect.

---

Example Sentences

Federal pandemic largesse helped paper over the district’s budget problems for a time and supercharged hiring.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

This became especially apparent during the pandemic, when many artists in the city — including himself — began to paper over the cracks and were perceived as living as usual.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026

That extends a rally in bonds that has clipped more than 30 basis points, or hundredths of a percentage point, from the yield on the benchmark paper over the past month.

From Barron's • Feb. 27, 2026

It’s not like those good manners and contrived niceties ever managed to paper over those divisions in the first place.

From Slate • Nov. 19, 2025

He was staring at his hands, turning the paper over and over as if he hoped to find something on it that was not there before.

From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes