as in veil
something that covers or conceals like a piece of cloth
under the coverture of a raging snowstorm, the rebels undertook their surprise attack on the fortress
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Recent Examples of coverture
Post-1776, coverture laws made married women legally invisible, granting men absolute marital authority.
—
Patricia Fersch,
Forbes.com,
30 June 2026
For centuries, the doctrine of coverture rendered married women the property of their husbands with no legal rights of their own.
—
Literary Hub,
6 Nov. 2025
Heavenly Mother, according to our own doctrine, can’t be some wilting Victorian flower shrinking under the protective coverture of a strong man.
—
The Salt Lake Tribune,
7 May 2022
The famous legal scholar William Blackstone had interpreted coverture rather strictly in the 1760s, and the American Revolution did nothing to change that.
—
Washington Post,
25 Feb. 2022
That started to change by about the 18th century, when coverture laws—which counted wives as legal property of their husbands—grew more entrenched in Britain, and evolved to effectively forbid women from owning land at all.
—
Michael Waters,
The Atlantic,
27 Oct. 2021
In the nascent American Republic, where some humans could vote and most others were in coverture to their voting husbands or were the property of those men, the notion of majority representation was corrupted a priori.
—
Shannon Pufahl,
The New York Review of Books,
21 Apr. 2020
Patricia Fersch,
Forbes.com,
30 June 2026
For centuries, the doctrine of coverture rendered married women the property of their husbands with no legal rights of their own.
—
Literary Hub,
6 Nov. 2025
Heavenly Mother, according to our own doctrine, can’t be some wilting Victorian flower shrinking under the protective coverture of a strong man.
—
The Salt Lake Tribune,
7 May 2022
The famous legal scholar William Blackstone had interpreted coverture rather strictly in the 1760s, and the American Revolution did nothing to change that.
—
Washington Post,
25 Feb. 2022
That started to change by about the 18th century, when coverture laws—which counted wives as legal property of their husbands—grew more entrenched in Britain, and evolved to effectively forbid women from owning land at all.
—
Michael Waters,
The Atlantic,
27 Oct. 2021
In the nascent American Republic, where some humans could vote and most others were in coverture to their voting husbands or were the property of those men, the notion of majority representation was corrupted a priori.
—
Shannon Pufahl,
The New York Review of Books,
21 Apr. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for coverture
Noun
-
The nineteenth-century lace veil was found in an antiques market and secured with Grace Kelly's Cartier tiara.
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The strapless corset gown had a sheer illusion jacket embellished with pearls and was paired with a cathedral veil.
Noun
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In our post-religious era—in which, beneath the cloak of secular humanitarianism, righteous religiosity and virtuous crusading remain as potent as ever—history has attained the authority, authenticity and prestige that religion and its prelates once possessed.
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Throughout premodern Europe, this is how she was known—the figure in the cloak with a stool on her back, walking to houses at all hours, day and night.
Noun
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In the hospital’s courtyard, relatives wept over the bodies covered in white burial shrouds.
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Silver and predatory birds aside, Silver and eagles aside, the shoe features a black leather and mesh region beneath the shroud with a red Jumpman.
Cite this Entry
“Coverture.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/coverture. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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