Camouflages

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To hide or disguise something by integrating it within its environment through visual matching or color adaptation
2. To make an object less visible by merging its appearance with that of its surroundings through color or pattern adjustments
3. Uses colors and patterns to make something blend in with its background, hiding it from view

Etymology: The verb "camouflages" is simply the third-person singular form of "camouflage," so its story is the story of the noun and verb it comes from. That history begins with a head covered in cloth. In Italian, "camuffare" meant "to muffle the head," built from "capo" (head) and "muffare" (to muffle), which in turn traces to Medieval Latin "muffula," a word for a muff or wrap, possibly from a Frankish compound meaning something like soft hide. The French form "camoufler" then took on a different sense of veiling or disguising, and it was probably reshaped under the influence of "camouflet," a word for smoke blown into someone's face. The original image of a muffled head gave way to the idea of hiding something behind a false appearance. English borrowed the French word directly, keeping its French form rather than adapting it to English spelling and pronunciation.

Synonyms: disguises, conceals, hides, obscures, shrouds

Antonyms: reveals, exposes, unveils, shows, discloses