smokescreen

smokescreen

See also: smoke screen

English

Alternative forms

• smoke screen

Etymology

From smoke +‎ screen.

Pronunciation

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Noun

smokescreen (plural smokescreens)

1. Smoke used as a disguise, mask or cover, as of troops in battle.
   • 1951, Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Chapter 25, Part 5, p. 284,

     Ensign Whitely began to tell of the surprise encounter of Admiral Sprague’s escort-carrier force with the main battle line of the Japanese Navy off Samar, in a chaos of rain squalls and smoke screens.

   • 1959 September, “Talking of Trains”, in Trains Illustrated, page 401, photo caption:

     C.I.E. Class "D14" 4-4-0 No. 89 covers its tracks with a magnificent smokescreen as it pulls out of Dun Laoghaire with the 9.0 a.m. boat train for Dublin.

2. (figuratively) Anything used metaphorically to conceal or distract.

   All that talk is just a smokescreen to disguise the fact that he has nothing to say.

   • 1968, Desmond Bagley, The Vivero Letter, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Chapter 8, p. 163,

     It was all very plausible and, as he poured out his smokescreen of words, I became fidgety for fear Fallon would be too direct with him.

Translations

smoke used as a disguise, mask or cover

Arabic: سِتَار دُخَانِيّ‎ m (sitār duḵāniyy) Armenian: ծխածածկույթ (hy) (cxacackuytʿ) Azerbaijani: tüstü pərdəsi Belarusian: дымава́я заве́са f (dymavája zavjésa), дымава́я засло́на f (dymavája zaslóna) Bulgarian: ди́мна заве́са f (dímna zavésa) Chinese: Mandarin: 煙幕／烟幕 (zh) (yānmù), 煙氣幕／烟气幕 (yānqìmù) Czech: kouřová clona f Danish: røgslør n Dutch: rookgordijn (nl) n Estonian: suitsukate Finnish: savuverho (fi) French: écran de fumée (fr) m, rideau de fumée m Galician: cortina de fume f German: Nebelwand (de) f, Nebelvorhand m, Nebelschleier (de) m, Deckmantel (de) m, Rauchvorhang m Hungarian: ködfüggöny Irish: brat deataigh m Italian: cortina fumogena f Japanese: 煙幕 (ja) (えんまく, enmaku) Korean: 연막(煙幕) (yeonmak) Latvian: dūmu aizsegs m Lithuanian: dūmų uždanga f Macedonian: димна завеса f (dimna zavesa) Norwegian: Bokmål: røykskjerm m Polish: zasłona dymna (pl) f Portuguese: cortina de fumaça f (Brasil), cortina de fumo f (Portugal) Russian: дымова́я заве́са (ru) f (dymovája zavésa) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: димна завеса f, димна завјеса f Roman: dimna zavesa f, dimna zavjesa f Slovak: dymová clona f Slovene: dimna zavesa f Spanish: cortina de humo f Swedish: rökridå c, dimridå (sv) c Turkish: sis perdesi (tr) Ukrainian: димова́ заві́са f (dymová zavísa), димова́ засло́на f (dymová zaslóna)

anything used (metaphorically) to conceal or distract

Armenian: ծխածածկույթ (hy) (cxacackuytʿ) Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Finnish: savuverho (fi) French: écran de fumée (fr) m Galician: cortina de fume f German: Vorwand (de) m, Ablenkung (de) f, Ablenkungsmanöver (de) n, Tarnmanöver n, Vernebelung f, Deckmantel (de) m Hungarian: ködösítés (hu), félrevezetés (hu), elterelés (hu), álca (hu) Japanese: 煙幕 (ja) (えんまく, enmaku) Korean: 연막 (yeonmak) Latvian: aizsegs m Polish: zasłona dymna (pl) f Portuguese: cortina de fumaça f (Brasil), cortina de fumo f (Portugal), fachada (pt) Spanish: cortina de humo f Swedish: rökridå, dimridå (sv) c Turkish: sis perdesi (tr)

See also

• smoke test