Definition of coverturenext
as in veil
something that covers or conceals like a piece of cloth under the coverture of a raging snowstorm, the rebels undertook their surprise attack on the fortress

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of coverture For centuries, the doctrine of coverture rendered married women the property of their husbands with no legal rights of their own. Literary Hub, 6 Nov. 2025 While Northern women were trapped in coverture, Southern states were bypassing coverture specifically for the purpose of giving married women rights to own enslaved people. Trevon Logan, The Conversation, 10 June 2024 Heavenly Mother, according to our own doctrine, can’t be some wilting Victorian flower shrinking under the protective coverture of a strong man. The Salt Lake Tribune, 7 May 2022 The famous legal scholar William Blackstone had interpreted coverture rather strictly in the 1760s, and the American Revolution did nothing to change that. Washington Post, 25 Feb. 2022 That started to change by about the 18th century, when coverture laws—which counted wives as legal property of their husbands—grew more entrenched in Britain, and evolved to effectively forbid women from owning land at all. Michael Waters, The Atlantic, 27 Oct. 2021 In the nascent American Republic, where some humans could vote and most others were in coverture to their voting husbands or were the property of those men, the notion of majority representation was corrupted a priori. Shannon Pufahl, The New York Review of Books, 21 Apr. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for coverture
Noun
  • By peering through thick veils of gas and dust, radio astronomers have been able to watch young binary stars orbit around one another in the heart of star-forming clouds — and, in the process, have revealed the stars' masses.
    Keith Cooper, Space.com, 28 Apr. 2026
  • Cassie pissily wearing her veil in the limo is kind of a slay.
    Emma Specter, Vogue, 27 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • The housekeepers greet me with genuine care, the bartenders create cocktails with panache and smiles, and the doormen and women jauntily pose for pictures in their thick Batman-style winter cloaks.
    Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Apr. 2026
  • The picture shows Trump wearing a red cloak with his hand over someone’s forehead, appearing to heal them.
    Charlotte Hazard, Baltimore Sun, 13 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • Green burial – defined as the burial of human remains without embalming, contained only in a biodegradable shroud or casket – is legal in all 50 states and Washington, but is only offered by a small share of cemeteries.
    Tanya D. Marsh, The Conversation, 24 Apr. 2026
  • Set the scene No view of Mount Fuji is ever guaranteed—clouds can roll in, swaths of mist can form a thick shroud, and rain showers can obscure the steep slopes—but on a clear day, the views from Gora Kadan Fuji are absolutely breathtaking.
    Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Apr. 2026

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Coverture.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/coverture. Accessed 2 May. 2026.

More from Merriam-Webster on coverture

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster