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cover-up

noun

cov·​er-up ˈkə-vər-ˌəp How to pronounce cover-up (audio)
Synonyms of cover-upnext
1
a
: a device or stratagem for masking or concealing
his garrulousness is a cover-up for insecurity
b
: a usually concerted effort to keep an illegal or unethical act or situation from being made public
2
: a loose outer garment

Examples of cover-up in a Sentence

that contrived burglary was just a cover-up for murder
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
If you’re headed somewhere tropical, that could mean button-downs that can be used as swimsuit cover-ups, slip dresses that can be layered with T-shirts for a different look, or silk scarves that can be styled into tops. Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 2 Dec. 2025 Numbered white cards placed alongside the bones mark how many skeletons have been found since digging began in May of this year, reviving decades-old allegations of wartime atrocities and cover-ups. Helen Regan, CNN Money, 30 Nov. 2025 Continue reading … OUT OF THIS WORLD – Top US officials break silence on alleged cover-up of non-human intelligence. FOXNews.com, 28 Nov. 2025 The documentary theory poses a theory that there has been a decades-long government cover-up of extraterrestrial intelligence. Marni Rose McFall, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Nov. 2025 See All Example Sentences for cover-up

Word History

First Known Use

1927, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of cover-up was in 1927

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Cite this Entry

“Cover-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cover-up. Accessed 5 Dec. 2025.

Kids Definition

cover-up

noun
cov·​er-up
ˈkəv-ə-ˌrəp
: a planned effort to conceal a wrongful act or situation

More from Merriam-Webster on cover-up

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