camouflage

1 of 3

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

camouflage

2 of 3

verb

camouflaged; camouflaging

transitive verb

: to conceal or disguise by camouflage

The makeup camouflages blemishes.

intransitive verb

: to practice camouflage

camouflageable

ˈka-mə-ˌflä-zhə-bəl 

-jə-bəl

adjective

camouflage

3 of 3

adjective

: made in colors or patterns typical of camouflage

a camouflage jacket

Synonyms of camouflage

Noun

• costume
• mask
• disguise
• guise

Verb

• disguise
• conceal
• mask
• hide

Examples of camouflage in a Sentence

Noun

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.

Verb

It was impossible to camouflage the facts.

camouflaged the military camp as a native village

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Even the camouflage worn by development vehicles has been designed to tell part of the story. — Matthew MacConnell, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026

Their markings serve as camouflage, blending in with a dappled light pattern. — Madeline Gunderson, USA Today, 18 July 2026

Verb

In 2013, another designer, Sang Mun, released ZXX, a typeface with four fonts camouflaged with visual noise that foiled optical character recognition software while remaining visible to humans. — Leslie Katz, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026

The underrated foundation Meghan Markle uses conceals, corrects, and camouflages all in-one. — Alyssa Morin, InStyle, 18 July 2026

Adjective

The Danish troops were easy enough to spot in the hotel lobby, mostly Viking in stature and dressed in civilian clothing that was nevertheless overwhelmingly camouflage. — Joshua Hunt, Vanity Fair, 17 June 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

Noun

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).

Verb

derivative of camouflage entry 1

Adjective

from attributive use of camouflage entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1885, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Verb

1917, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Adjective

1918, in the meaning defined above

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