camouflage

1 of 3

noun

cam·ou·flage ˈka-mə-ˌfläzh

-ˌfläj

Synonyms of camouflage next

: the disguising especially of military equipment or installations with paint, nets, or foliage

also : the disguise so applied

: concealment by means of disguise

The rabbit's white fur acts as camouflage in the snow.

: behavior or artifice designed to deceive or hide

hiding behind a camouflage of righteous indignation

camouflagic

ˌka-mə-ˈflä-zhik

-jik

adjective

camouflage

2 of 3

verb

camouflaged; camouflaging

transitive verb

: to conceal or disguise by camouflage

The makeup camouflages blemishes.

intransitive verb

: to practice camouflage

camouflageable

ˈka-mə-ˌflä-zhə-bəl

-jə-bəl

adjective

camouflage

3 of 3

adjective

: made in colors or patterns typical of camouflage

a camouflage jacket

Examples of camouflage in a Sentence

Noun The army tanks were painted green and brown for camouflage. The rabbit's white fur acts as a camouflage in the snow. Rabbits use their white fur as camouflage in the snow. Her so-called charity work was a camouflage for her own self-interest. His tough attitude served as camouflage. Verb It was impossible to camouflage the facts. camouflaged the military camp as a native village

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Noun

Icy winds fluttered the camouflage netting concealing the vehicle. —

Erin Banco, Anastasiia Malenko, USA TODAY, 3 Feb. 2025 For instance, a deep maroon blazer was spotted paired with slim-fitting denim and a camouflage tee. —

Robyn Mowatt, Essence, 24 Jan. 2025

Verb

Better placement could also help camouflage the shack and Marshall hoped to find a cost-effective solution for Dish that would also be acceptable to the community. —

Karen Billing, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Jan. 2025 If your flooring looks more like a patchwork quilt thanks to choppy updates and renovations throughout the years, consider an area rug in the entry that can blend or even camouflage the mismatched look. —

Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 23 Jan. 2025

Adjective

Amid the videos, the Transformers One star inserted a photo of him and his wife Elsa Pataky, 48, posing together, with Hemsworth wearing a camouflage ski suit and Patasky adorning a multi-colored one. —

Kayla Grant, People.com, 4 Feb. 2025 Davis was last seen wearing black Levi pants, a camouflage shirt, a black jacket and black Timberland shoes. —

Theresa Braine, New York Daily News, 29 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for camouflage

Word History

Etymology

Noun

borrowed from French, from camoufler "to disguise, make unrecognizable" (originally criminal argot, perhaps derivative from the base of camouflet "a practical joke performed by igniting a paper cornet and blowing the smoke from it into the nose of a sleeping person") + -age -age; camouflet, alteration (with replacement of the initial syllable by the expressive prefix ca-) of Middle French chault moufflet, from chault "warm" (going back to Latin calidus "hot, warm") + moufflet, presumably, "breath, puff of air," from moufl- (as in Middle French mouflart "with puffy cheeks," Walloon dialect moufler "to puff up the cheeks") + -et -et entry 1; moufl- is an expressive base perhaps borrowed from a West Germanic etymon, whence late Middle High German muffeln "to grumble, mutter," Swiss German müffele "to chew slowly," Middle Dutch moffelaer "braggart, glutton" — more at cauldron

Note: This etymology of French camoufler is preferred by Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (vol. 16, p. 575) and Bloch and Wartburg's Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 6th edition, 1975 ("… l'idée de «fumée» pouvant très bien servir de base à un mot au sens de «déguiser»" — "the notion of 'smoke' being very well capable of serving as the base for a word with the sense 'to disguise'"). It is cited more recently by Trésor de la langue française. Earlier etymologists (Gamillscheg, Dauzat), as well as Gaston Esnault, compiler of Dictionnaire des argots (Paris, 1965), believed that camoufler was a loan from Italian camuffare "to feign, conceal, disguise, mask," which is remarkably close in both form and sense. Esnault dates the earliest occurrence of camoufler, as a reflexive verb ("to assume a disguise"), to 1821. The Italian verb is much older, first occurring in the fourteenth century. Lessico etimologico italiano places it under *camāre, a variant of *carmāre "to cast a spell, charm" with -rm- assimilated to -m- (for other ideas on the origin of camuffare see M. Cortelazzo and P. Zolli, Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana).

Verb

derivative of camouflage entry 1

Adjective

from attributive use of camouflage entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1885, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Verb

1917, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Adjective

1918, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of camouflage was in 1885

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Camouflage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/camouflage. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.

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Kids Definition

camouflage

1 of 2 noun

cam·ou·flage ˈkam-ə-ˌfläzh

-ˌfläj

: the hiding or disguising of something by covering it up or changing the way it looks

: the material (as paint or leaves and branches) used for camouflage

camouflage

2 of 2 verb

camouflaged; camouflaging

: to hide or disguise by camouflage

Last Updated: 6 Feb 2025 - Updated example sentences

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camouflage

noun

verb

adjective

Synonyms

Examples of camouflage in a Sentence

Word History

Dictionary Entries Near camouflage

Cite this Entry

Kids Definition