camouflage
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The use of natural or artificial material on personnel, objects, or tactical positions with the aim of confusing, misleading, or evading the enemy.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kamuhflahzhSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkæməflɑʒ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
military
The use of natural or artificial material on personnel, objects, or tactical positions with the aim of confusing, misleading, or evading the enemy.
biology
The resemblance of an organism to its surroundings for avoiding detection.
A disguise or covering up.
textiles
A pattern on clothing consisting of irregularly shaped patches that are either greenish/brownish, brownish/whitish, or bluish/whitish, as used by ground combat forces.
Clothes made from camouflage fabric, for concealment in combat or hunting.
The act of concealing the identity of something by modifying its appearance
verb
Disguise by camouflaging; exploit the natural surroundings to disguise something
“The troops camouflaged themselves before they went into enemy territory.”
transitive
To hide or disguise something by covering it up or changing its appearance.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The use of natural or artificial material on personnel, objects, or tactical positions with the aim of confusing, misleading, or evading the enemy.
Used this way, camouflage is a specialist word with a clearly unfavourable pull. This is a military use: it belongs to service and operational language.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Military
- Historical writing
- News/reporting
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use camouflage
- “The troops camouflaged themselves before they went into enemy territory.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.