face shield

noun

plural face shields

: a protective covering for all or part of the face that is commonly made of clear plastic and is worn especially to prevent injury (as from impact, extreme temperature, or a dangerous substance) or to reduce the spread of transmissible disease

Infectious disease experts and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urge people to wear cloth face coverings or plastic face shields in public to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.

—Nick Coltrain

The headbands are reusable with an interchangeable face shield, which greatly increases their utility versus a single-use disposable design.

—Edwin B. Smith

… no action was taken by the American Hockey Coaches Association regarding the matter of a three-quarters face shield for college hockey players. Thus, the full face mask requirement will remain in place for next season.

—John Connolly

If it's really cold, a snowmobile-style helmet with a face shield is your best bet.

—Tom Kaiser

Wash your hands frequently and use a cloth face shield to protect yourself and others from spreading the virus.

—Howard B. Owens

Examples of face shield in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Those include respiratory masks, gloves, goggles and face shields. —Kate Wolffe, Sacramento Bee, 6 Mar. 2025

Kitchen Campaign: In April and May, Greg Woodcock, a planner at the New York Power Authority’s Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Project, was one of several NYPA employees who used 3D printers owned by the NYPA to produce face shields for medical workers and first responders. —IEEE Spectrum, 21 July 2020

Protecting your eyes with safety goggles, face shields, or glasses can prevent over 90% of eye injuries.2 2. —Maxine Lipner, Verywell Health, 10 Mar. 2025

Mask mandate ban: House Bill 32 would prohibit governments in Idaho from mandating masks or face shields, except when necessary. —Ian Max Stevenson, Idaho Statesman, 18 Feb. 2025

The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, manages a national stockpile that has face shields, gloves, respirators, and goggles available to farms that need them. —Emily Mullin, WIRED, 22 Jan. 2025

The bill would prohibit any government entity in Idaho — including cities, schools and public health districts — from mandating masks or face shields. —Ian Max Stevenson, Idaho Statesman, 21 Jan. 2025

Zach Hyman, playing with a full face shield to protect a broken nose, scored in the second period. —Daniel Nugent-Bowman, The Athletic, 20 Dec. 2024

Using it as a face shield in super dry mountain air also helped prevent lung scorch. —Mark Eller, Outside Online, 13 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1842, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for face shield

• battlefield
• unconcealed
• unrepealed
• unrevealed
• afield
• airfield
• annealed
• appealed
• brownfield
• coalfield
• concealed
• congealed

Medical Definition

face shield

noun

: a protective covering for all or part of the face that is commonly made of clear plastic and is worn especially to prevent injury (as from impact, extreme temperature, or a dangerous substance) or to reduce the spread of transmissible disease

The use of a full face shield compared with half face shield by intercollegiate ice hockey players significantly reduced the playing time lost because of concussion, suggesting that concussion severity may be reduced by the use of a full face shield.

—B. W. Benson et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine

… if a medical professional wearing a face shield is exposed to droplets when an infected person breathes, coughs, or sneezes in front of the wearer's face, the large droplets may attach to the face shield's surface, thereby providing protection; however, small droplets may move with the airflow and be drawn in through the space between the wearer's face and the face shield.

—Fujio Akagi et al., Physics of Fluids