camouflage

noun

cam·​ou·​flage ˈka-mə-ˌfläzh 

-ˌfläj

1

: the disguising especially of military equipment or installations with paint, nets, or foliage

also : the disguise so applied

2

a

: concealment by means of disguise

The rabbit's white fur acts as camouflage in the snow.

b

: behavior or artifice designed to deceive or hide

hiding behind a camouflage of righteous indignation

camouflagic

ˌka-mə-ˈflä-zhik 

-jik

adjective

Synonyms of camouflage

• costume
• mask
• disguise
• guise

Examples of camouflage in a Sentence

The army tanks were painted green and brown for camouflage.

The rabbit's white fur acts as a camouflage in the snow.

Rabbits use their white fur as camouflage in the snow.

Her so-called charity work was a camouflage for her own self-interest.

His tough attitude served as camouflage.

Recent Examples on the Web

In the case of camouflage, travelers may have to turn it over to authorities, Royal Caribbean said on its website. —Nathan Diller, USA Today, 4 June 2026

Outside a nearby auto-parts shop, a man in camouflage pants and Crocs peered at his truck’s engine. —Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, The Atlantic, 31 May 2026

The military used beeswax to waterproof canvas tents and rucksacks, use in sunscreen and camouflage, and wax and coat planes to reduce drag and save money on fuel. —Literary Hub, 27 May 2026

The 28-year-old American actor was out and about in Los Angeles sporting the athletic brand’s classic sneaker style with camouflage cargo shorts and a red top layered over a white long sleeve. —Jaden Thompson, Footwear News, 27 May 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, from camoufler "to disguise, make unrecognizable" (originally criminal argot, perhaps derivative from the base of camouflet "a practical joke performed by igniting a paper cornet and blowing the smoke from it into the nose of a sleeping person") + -age -age; camouflet, alteration (with replacement of the initial syllable by the expressive prefix ca-) of Middle French chault moufflet, from chault "warm" (going back to Latin calidus "hot, warm") + moufflet, presumably, "breath, puff of air," from moufl- (as in Middle French mouflart "with puffy cheeks," Walloon dialect moufler "to puff up the cheeks") + -et -et entry 1; moufl- is an expressive base perhaps borrowed from a West Germanic etymon, whence late Middle High German muffeln "to grumble, mutter," Swiss German müffele "to chew slowly," Middle Dutch moffelaer "braggart, glutton" — more at cauldron

Note: This etymology of French camoufler is preferred by Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (vol. 16, p. 575) and Bloch and Wartburg's Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 6th edition, 1975 ("… l'idée de «fumée» pouvant très bien servir de base à un mot au sens de «déguiser»" — "the notion of 'smoke' being very well capable of serving as the base for a word with the sense 'to disguise'"). It is cited more recently by Trésor de la langue française. Earlier etymologists (Gamillscheg, Dauzat), as well as Gaston Esnault, compiler of Dictionnaire des argots (Paris, 1965), believed that camoufler was a loan from Italian camuffare "to feign, conceal, disguise, mask," which is remarkably close in both form and sense. Esnault dates the earliest occurrence of camoufler, as a reflexive verb ("to assume a disguise"), to 1821. The Italian verb is much older, first occurring in the fourteenth century. Lessico etimologico italiano places it under *camāre, a variant of *carmāre "to cast a spell, charm" with -rm- assimilated to -m- (for other ideas on the origin of camuffare see M. Cortelazzo and P. Zolli, Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana).

First Known Use

1885, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Rhymes for camouflage

• arbitrage
• entourage
• sabotage
• vicarage
• barrage
• collage
• corsage
• dressage
• garage
• massage
• mirage
• montage

Kids Definition

camouflage

1 of 2 noun

cam·​ou·​flage ˈkam-ə-ˌfläzh 

-ˌfläj

1

: the hiding or disguising of something by covering it up or changing the way it looks

2

: the material (as paint or leaves and branches) used for camouflage

camouflage

2 of 2 verb

camouflaged; camouflaging

: to hide or disguise by camouflage