veil
noun
a piece of opaque or transparent material worn over the face for concealment, for protection from the elements, or to enhance the appearance.
veil
American
[vayl]
/ veɪl /
noun
-
veils
plural
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a piece of opaque or transparent material worn over the face for concealment, for protection from the elements, or to enhance the appearance.
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a piece of material worn so as to fall over the head and shoulders on each side of the face, forming a part of the headdress of a nun.
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the life of a nun, especially a cloistered life.
-
something that covers, separates, screens, or conceals.
a veil of smoke; the veil of death.
-
a mask, disguise, or pretense.
to find fault under a veil of humor.
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Botany, Anatomy, Zoology. a velum.
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Mycology. a membrane that covers the immature mushroom of many fungi and breaks apart as the mushroom expands, leaving distinctive remnants on the cap, stalk, or stalk base.
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Scot. and North England. a caul.
verb (used with object)
-
veils,
present (3rd person singular)
-
veiled,
past participle, past
-
veiling
present participle
-
to cover or conceal with or as with a veil.
She veiled her face in black. A heavy fog veiled the shoreline.
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to hide the real nature of; mask; disguise.
to veil one's intentions.
verb (used without object)
-
veils,
present (3rd person singular)
-
veiled,
past participle, past
-
veiling
present participle
idioms
Veil
1
British
/ vaɪl /
noun
veil
2
British
/ veɪl /
noun
-
a piece of more or less transparent material, usually attached to a hat or headdress, used to conceal or protect a woman's face and head
-
part of a nun's headdress falling round the face onto the shoulders
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something that covers, conceals, or separates; mask
a veil of reticence
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the life of a nun in a religious order and the obligations entailed by it
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to become a nun
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Also called: velum. botany a membranous structure, esp the thin layer of cells connecting the edge of a young mushroom cap with the stipe
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anatomy another word for caul
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See humeral veil
verb
-
(tr) to cover, conceal, or separate with or as if with a veil
-
(intr) to wear or put on a veil
veil
Scientific
/ vāl /
veil
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
veilsimple
-
veilssimple
-
have veiledperfect
-
has veiledperfect
-
am veilingprogressive
-
are veilingprogressive
-
is veilingprogressive
-
have been veilingperfect progressive
-
has been veilingperfect progressive
Past
-
veiledsimple
-
had veiledperfect
-
was veilingprogressive
-
were veilingprogressive
-
had been veilingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of veil
1175–1225; (noun) Middle English veile < Anglo-French < Latin vēla, neuter plural (taken in VL as feminine singular) of vēlum covering; (v.) Middle English veilen < Anglo-French veiler, derivative of veile
Explanation
A veil is a cloth covering the head and face, mostly worn by women. Wedding veils are drawn back when the groom hears, "Now you may kiss the bride." (Or else the groom gets a gauzy mouthful.) This is a technical term for part of an embryo or mushroom, but it’s usually a covering for the head and face. Priests wear veils during certain Catholic ceremonies, and a grieving widow might wear a veil at her husband's funeral. To veil also means to conceal something. You could veil your attempt to steal some cookies by turning the TV up loud as a distraction. When something — like a lie — is "thinly veiled," people can see right through it.
Vocabulary lists containing veil
Put a Lid On It: Hats, Hoods, and Other Headgear
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This Week In Words: May 31–June 5, 2020
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Finishing Touches: Words for Accessories
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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:
A white veil from Claire’s at the mall.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
And with that veil ripped off, every emotion they didn’t let themselves feel, every word left unsaid, every last regret, all become instantly magnified, sprawling out before them on an endless road.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
Harry's 2023 autobiography, "Spare", lifted the veil on his royal rifts, describing William as his "arch-nemesis" and alleging he physically attacked him in a blazing 2019 row about Meghan.
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
She detects a generalized funk poisoning our existence and asks, not unreasonably, “What is with this bummer veil cast over everything fun or exciting?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
The cliffs got closer, and he could see the islet shrouded in a veil of slashing rain and gray sludge.
From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook
Within and around this region lie several popular deep-sky objects, including the Dumbbell Nebula, the Ring Nebula, the North America Nebula, and the Veil Nebula.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 3, 2026
Badinter joined other national heroes, including author Victor Hugo, French-American member of the French Resistance Josephine Baker and Simone Veil, the women's rights heavyweight and health minister who championed legalising abortion.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2025
Episodes of "The Green Veil" are available on a new, free streaming platform called The Network, which was created by Leguizamo's longtime friend and collaborator on the project, Aram Rappaport.
From Salon ● May 9, 2024
“We have a chance to change history. Make Simone Veil proud.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2024
Would the ghostly visitors from Beyond the Veil require place settings for food and drink?
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
For more than seven decades, she helped millions strip away the veils of hierarchy, patriarchy and all the stories spun about gendered expectations to confront the actual experience of women’s lives.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
Marked by veils of heavily diluted color that are rubbed into the canvas weave to create a weightless, matte effect, its soft, evanescent surface was intended to read, Whistler said, “like breath on glass.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
The Iran of today is also visible everywhere we stop, with some women wearing veils and scarves and others, of all ages, bare-headed.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026
Under its 40-year-old de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom has loosened its arch-conservatism, allowing women to drive and shed their veils.
From Barron's ● Nov. 10, 2025
The whatnots bowed down, their knees on the floor, their faces and veils and hoodies tilted low.
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
I learned an important lesson from this before my veiled bride even walked down the aisle: when, and how, to compromise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
But so far she hasn’t stumped for him, instead lobbing veiled criticisms of Talarico’s efforts to win over Black voters.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
"Presentations should not turn into self-representations," he wrote, in a thinly veiled swipe at Federov's long, detailed news conference last week.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
In briefings to local media, government sources have been more critical, labelling the rumours "wild speculation" -- in German, "wueste Spekulation", a word play seen as a veiled dig at Merz's potential challenger, Wuest.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
The mountains were veiled in deepening dusk, and the wind was cold.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
The fabled front was always understood to be window dressing veiling frustrations, squelched desires, and countless other malignancies.
From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2023
She styled the tailored look with a headpiece featuring a crinoline base with a layer of tulle and merry widow veiling, adorned with a ribbon bow.
From Washington Times ● May 6, 2023
The role of the morality police, which enforces veiling laws, came under scrutiny after a detainee, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, died in its custody in mid-September.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 4, 2022
Dozens of women have been jailed in Iran for their activism against forced veiling, according to rights groups.
From Reuters ● Jul. 12, 2022
Now Jack was veiling too and Ralph could no longer make himself heard.
From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
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.
