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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

veil.

Something hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view; usually of gauze, crepe, or similar diaphanous material.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/veɪl/General-American, Received-Pronunciation

  1. Something hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view; usually of gauze, crepe, or similar diaphanous material.

  2. Anything that partially obscures a clear view.

    figuratively

  3. A cover; disguise; a mask; a pretense.

  4. A covering for a person or thing; as, a caul (especially over the head)

    a nun's veil
    a paten veil

  5. The calyptra of mosses.

  6. velum (A circular membrane round the cap of a medusa).

  7. A thin layer of tissue which is attached to or covers a mushroom.

  8. A membrane connecting the margin of the pileus of a mushroom with the stalk; a velum.

  9. An obscuration of the clearness of the tones in pronunciation.

  10. That which separates the living and the spirit world.

    figuratively
Where this word comes from

From Middle English veil, veyl, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French veil (“sail, veil, shroud”) (Francien Old French voil, French voile), Latin vēlum (“cloth, covering”). Displaced Middle English scleire, scleyre, sleyre, slyre (“veil”) (compare German Schleier). Doublet of velum and voile.

verb/veɪl/General-American, Received-Pronunciation

  1. To dress in, or decorate with, a veil.

    transitive

  2. To conceal as with a veil.

    transitive
    The forest fire was veiled by smoke, but I could hear it clearly.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English veil, veyl, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French veil (“sail, veil, shroud”) (Francien Old French voil, French voile), Latin vēlum (“cloth, covering”). Displaced Middle English scleire, scleyre, sleyre, slyre (“veil”) (compare German Schleier). Doublet of velum and voile.

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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.