veiled

1. 1
   adjectivefiguratively

   Partly hidden or concealed, rather than openly expressed.

   The senator's speech contained a thinly veiled attack on her rival.

   His praise carried a veiled warning that the deadline would not move again.

   Similardisguised, hidden, implicit, indirect

   Oppositeopen, explicit, direct

   Note

   Its natural partners are threats, warnings, criticism and attacks, and thinly veiled is the set phrase for one so lightly disguised that everyone sees through it. A veiled threat leaves room for an innocent reading, which is its point: in the International Handbook of Threat Assessment (2014), a woman who told Professor Jones she would "be sorry" later said she meant only a formal complaint.

2. 2
   adjective

   Covered by a veil, whether a person, a face, or an object.

   A veiled woman in black sat alone at the back of the church.

   Until the ceremony, the new monument remained veiled under a heavy canvas sheet.

   Similarcovered, shrouded

   Note

   It describes people and things alike: a veiled bride or mourner, or a monument kept under canvas until the ceremony that unveils it. In H. Rider Haggard's She, Ayesha goes veiled like the marble statue of Truth, her beauty kept from sight, and that picture of something covered but present is the one the figurative meaning borrows.

3. 3
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of veil.

   The company veiled its losses behind a series of cheerful press releases.

   Thin clouds had veiled the moon by the time we reached the summit.

   Note

   The verb is regular, so one spelling serves as the simple past (fog veiled the hills) and the past participle after have or be (her face was veiled). It covers facts and feelings as readily as faces. Before a noun the participle often settles into an adjective, as in a veiled threat or a veiled bride.

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