mask

CEFRC1

/mɑːsk/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A covering worn over the face to hide or protect it.

  2. 02

    verb

    To hide a feeling, fact, or problem.

Examples

  • The man began to take off his hat, glasses and mask.

  • The man wore a mask of a tiger.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
3

Also pronounced

  • /mask/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Appearance, likeness.

  2. That which disguises; a pretext or subterfuge.

  3. A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection.

More examples

In context

  • a dancer's mask; a fencer's mask; a ball player's mask

  • to mask a body of troops or a fortess by a superior force, while some hostile evolution is being carried out

  • Grouchy and wary and tender, he’s a sozzled hedonist seemingly out for himself—though his party-animal facade is just a mask for his bottomless generosity.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The doctor wore a protective blank over her mouth and nose during surgery.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Borrowed from Middle French masque (“a covering to hide or protect the face”), from Italian maschera (“mask, disguise”), from (a byform of, see it for more) Medieval Latin masca, mascha, a borrowing of Proto-West Germanic *maskā, from which English mesh and mask (“mesh”) (below at Etymology 2) are inherited. Doublet of masque and mesh. Replaced Old English grīma (“mask”), whence grime, and displaced non-native Middle English viser (“visor, mask”) borrowed from Old French viser, visier.