smoke screen

See synonyms for smoke screen on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a mass of dense smoke produced to conceal an area, vessel, or plane from the enemy.

  2. something intended to disguise, conceal, or deceive; camouflage.

Origin of smoke screen

1
First recorded in 1910–15

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use smoke screen in a sentence

  • There was no protecting destroyer to lay a friendly smoke screen to shield them from the eyes in the sky.

    The Lost Warship | Robert Moore Williams
  • The smoke screen grew denser and taller, mounting toward the balloons.

    The Long Roll | Mary Johnston
  • The third method—that of rendering the blockships invisible to the battery—would have entailed the use of a smoke screen.

    The Blocking of Zeebrugge | Alfred F. B. Carpenter
  • I thought at the time that this smoke screen was the thickest on record—that opinion was changed later.

    The Blocking of Zeebrugge | Alfred F. B. Carpenter
  • Phoebe, therefore, laid out another protective smoke screen and lowered her boat for the rescue work.

    The Blocking of Zeebrugge | Alfred F. B. Carpenter

British Dictionary definitions for smoke screen

smoke screen

noun
  1. military a cloud of smoke produced by artificial means to obscure movements or positions

  2. something said or done in order to hide the truth

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012