disguise

Meanings

Noun

• Material (such as clothing, makeup, a wig) used to alter one’s visual appearance in order to hide one's identity or assume another.
• The appearance of something on the outside which masks what's beneath.
• The act of disguising, notably as a ploy.
• A change of behaviour resulting from intoxication.

Verb

• To change the appearance of (a person or thing) so as to hide, or to assume an identity.
• To avoid giving away or revealing (something secret); to hide by a false appearance.
• To affect or change by liquor; to intoxicate.

Related

Similar words

• camouflage
• guise
• mask
• pretense
• cloak
• hide

Origin

• From Middle English disgisen, disguisen, borrowed from Old French desguiser (modern French déguiser), itself derived from des- (from Latin dis-) + guise (from a Germanic source).