Words / B2

VAYL/veɪl/

A veil is a piece of thin cloth worn over the face or head; also something that hides: a wedding veil; a veil of secrecy / mist. Scarf is everyday and thicker; mask covers the face more solidly. Describe the veil in the source only as the extract names it. Mix-up: veil vs vale (valley); veil vs vain / vein; do not write veil for a hat with no cloth over the face unless the source uses veil.

Meaning

A piece of thin cloth worn over the face or head; also something that hides (a veil of).

Examples

• “Describe the veil in the source only as the extract names it, then the ceremony if given.”
• “A veil of mist featured in the poem, which is the hiding sense — still quote the line.”

Good to know

a wedding / face veil; a veil of secrecy / mist; veil (verb: hide). Contrast: mask / scarf. Homophone trap: vale. Literature, RS, and geography. Cloth over the face, or something that hides — quote the garment or the metaphor.

Near in meaning

covering, shroud, screen

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