mantilla
Americannoun
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a silk or lace head scarf arranged over a high comb and falling over the back and shoulders, worn in Spain, Mexico, etc.
-
a short mantle or light cape.
noun
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a woman's lace or silk scarf covering the shoulders and head, often worn over a comb in the hair, esp in Spain
-
a similar covering for the shoulders only
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mantilla
1710–20; < Spanish; diminutive of manta
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:
In one, his head is thrown back in a gesture that could be interpreted as laughter or ecstasy; in another, he wears a mantilla and prays.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2024
At the end, two Madonnas: the pop star herself, in a mantilla, and Cardi B, pregnant in Moschino, instructing the photographers on how best to capture her.
From New York Times ● May 8, 2018
Her refined black-lace mantilla, Katzew says, is virtually unique in the casta painting genre.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2017
This has been compared to a mashrabiya, and a mantilla, and an abstraction of a Cézanne painting, but its architect, Ricciotti, says it is "the rocky bottom of the ocean, lifted up".
From The Guardian ● Jun. 8, 2013
My yellow dress stood out like a shout I tried to quiet by draping my black mantilla over my shoulders.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
Those fans turned up wearing lace mantillas and carrying votive candles on Tube trains that buzzed with Spanish slang, as they clamoured for this long-awaited concert.
From BBC ● May 6, 2026
Men tend to wear suits and ties and most women wear skirts and lace mantillas on their heads, the latter a traditional sign of humility and femininity.
From New York Times ● Nov. 15, 2022
As the church filled, women slipped on lacy black mantillas and filed up into the balcony, past singed walls still spray-painted with warnings of bombs, since removed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2016
Forget flamenco ruffles and mantillas and the toreador's gold-embroidered suit of lights.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 23, 2011
The other mothers dressed up for mass, wearing black lace mantillas on their heads and clutching green or red or yellow handbags that matched their shoes.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
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.
