Veil Meaning
/veɪl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounSomething hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view; usually of gauze, crepe, or similar diaphanous material.
nounAnything that partially obscures a clear view.
Sentence Examples
This bride is covering her face with a veil.
It was night, and a veil of darkness covered the streets.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The bride traditionally wears a white ____ over her face during the ceremony.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The bride wore a beautiful white ____ that covered her face as she walked down the aisle early today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English veil, veyl, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French veil (“sail, veil, shroud”) (Francien Old French voil, French voile), Latin vēlum (“cloth, covering”). Displaced Middle English scleire, scleyre, sleyre, slyre (“veil”) (compare German Schleier). Doublet of velum and voile.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The veil of the temple was rent in twain."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 27:51:
"She, as a veil down to the slender waist, / Her unadorned golden tresses wore."
— 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
"Above the smoky veil over the town rose Akerhus fort, with its towers standing out in sharp relief against the mirror of the fjord, beyond where the Nœs point loomed as a black shadow."
— 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 160:
"[I will] pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from the so seeming Mistress Page."
— c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
"Beckett complains that "in the forest of symbols" there is never quiet, and longs to break through the veil of language to silence."
— 2007, John Zerzan, Silence, page 4:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The bride traditionally wears a white ____ over her face during the ceremony.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The bride wore a beautiful white ____ that covered her face as she walked down the aisle early today.