disguise
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Any attire that modifies the appearance to conceal the wearer's identity.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihsgyzSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪsˈɡaɪz
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
Any attire that modifies the appearance in order to conceal the wearer's identity
Material (such as clothing, makeup, a wig) used to alter one's visual appearance in order to hide one's identity or assume another.
The act or state of disguising, notably as a ploy.
figuratively
The appearance of something on the outside which masks what's beneath.
verb
transitive
To change the appearance of (a person or thing) so as to hide, or to assume an identity.
transitive
To avoid giving away or revealing (something secret); to hide by a false appearance.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Any attire that modifies the appearance in order to conceal the wearer's identity
Used this way, disguise is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use disguise
- “Any disguise may expose soldiers to be deemed enemy spies.”noun
- “A cape and moustache completed his disguise.”noun
- “The theatrical notion of disguise is always associated with catastrophe in his stories.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to change the appearance of (a person
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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.