guise

noun

ˈgīz 

1

: a form or style of dress : costume

attended the masquerade in the guise of a court jester

2

a

obsolete : manner, fashion

b

archaic : a customary way of speaking or behaving

3

a

: external appearance : semblance

The android is a machine in human guise.

b

: pretext

swindles people under the guise of friendship

Synonyms

• act
• airs
• charade
• disguise
• facade
• façade
• front
• masquerade
• playacting
• pose
• pretense
• pretence
• put-on
• semblance
• show

Examples of guise in a Sentence

he sneaked into the castle to rescue Ivanhoe in the guise of a priest coming to give Ivanhoe his last rites

she felt as though she should be wearing some sort of Germanic guise, complete with dirndl, for the fall festival featuring traditional German food and drink

Recent Examples on the Web

Now, bargain cars can take on a few different guises. —Owen Bellwood / Jalopnik, Quartz, 18 Mar. 2024

That being said, given that generative AI has been generally data trained across a wide swath of the Internet, there is indubitably tons of content about these matters that has come under the guise of generic pattern-matching. —Lance Eliot, Forbes, 16 Feb. 2024

Two figures in the show, Von and Henry, materialize in multiple guises, demonstrating the transformativeness of persona construction and the depth of what may lie beyond the surface. —Colleen Kelsey, CNN, 22 Mar. 2024

However, Asha soon finds that Magnifico is stealing the wishes from his people, under the benevolent guise of freeing everyone from their chief desires. —Valerie Wu, Variety, 18 Mar. 2024

The company has been operating in a variety of guises within the digital health and nutrition space since 2010 but, in recent years, has found itself in a position to benefit from a number of rule changes and socio-political trends. —Gus Alexiou, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024

Several actors donned the iconic guise of Ghostface in the Scream franchise, but one of the most intriguing is Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) in the original film. —Steven Thrash, EW.com, 19 Oct. 2023

Another possibility is that men adopted the guise as a means of courtship. —Susan Portnoy, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 Jan. 2024

However, promoters have seized on the complexities of trusts, packaging and marketing various types of trust arrangements to unsuspecting taxpayers under the guise that using their specific trust will eliminate or defer federal income taxes. —Matthew Roberts, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English gise, guise, from Anglo-French, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German wīsa manner — more at wise

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing guise

• in the guise of
• under the guise of

Kids Definition

guise

noun

ˈgīz 

1

: a form or style of dress : costume

in the guise of a shepherd

2

: outer or disguised appearance : semblance

swindled people under the guise of friendship

Biographical Definition

Guise 1 of 2

biographical name (1)

ˈgēz,

also

ˈgwēz 

2nd Duc de 1519–1563 François de Lorraine French soldier and politician

Guise

2 of 2

biographical name (2)

3rd Duc de 1550–1588 Henri I de Lorraine French soldier and politician