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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

varnish.

A clear or translucent liquid coating composed of resin dissolved in a solvent, which dries by evaporation to form a hard, protective, and typically glossy finish.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈvɑː(ɹ)nɪʃ/
  1. A clear or translucent liquid coating composed of resin dissolved in a solvent, which dries by evaporation to form a hard, protective, and typically glossy finish.

    countable · uncountable
  2. Anything resembling such a coating; a glossy appearance.

    countable · uncountable
  3. A deceptively showy appearance.

    broadly · countable · figuratively · uncountable
  4. A passenger train, probably derived from the varnished passenger cars used at one time.

    US · countable · dated · informal · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English vernisch, vernish, from Old French vernis, from Medieval Latin vernix, veronix, from Byzantine Greek Βερενίκη (Bereníkē, “Berenice”), a town in Cyrenaica, now called Benghazi.

verb/ˈvɑː(ɹ)nɪʃ/
  1. To apply varnish.

    intransitive
  2. To cover up with varnish.

    transitive
  3. To make something superficially or deceptively attractive

    transitive
    varnish the report
  4. To gloss over a defect.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English vernisch, vernish, from Old French vernis, from Medieval Latin vernix, veronix, from Byzantine Greek Βερενίκη (Bereníkē, “Berenice”), a town in Cyrenaica, now called Benghazi.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.