Illustration of shroud
- 1 shroud 3a
1
: burial garment : winding-sheet, cerement
2
: something that covers, screens, or guards: such as
a
: one of two flanges that give peripheral support to turbine or fan bedding
b
: a guard (as of ceramic or fiberglass) that protects a spacecraft from the heat of launching
3
a
: one of the ropes leading usually in pairs from a ship's mastheads to give lateral support to the masts
b
: one of the cords that suspend the harness of a parachute from the canopy
4
obsolete
: shelter, protection
shrouded; shrouding; shrouds
1
a
: to cut off from view : obscure
trees shrouded by fog
this point is shrouded in uncertainty—
Henry James
b
: to veil under another appearance (as by obscuring or disguising)
shrouded the decision in a series of formalities
2
: to dress for burial
3
a
archaic
: to cover for protection
b
obsolete
: conceal
archaic
: to seek shelter
Examples of shroud in a Sentence
Noun
the truth of the affair will always be hidden under a shroud of secrecy
Verb
The mountains were shrouded in fog.
Their work is shrouded in secrecy.
Recent Examples on the Web
Thomas Cangelosi, Hartford Courant, 4 Jan. 2026
The Artemis 2 Orion crew capsule, inside a protective launch shroud, and its escape rocket are visible amid service platforms inside NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center.
—William Harwood, CBS News, 21 Dec. 2025
Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 8 Jan. 2026
The star, Fomalhaut, stands out as one of the brightest in the night sky and is known to be shrouded in bands of dust and debris.
—Claire Cameron, Scientific American, 23 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shroud
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Noun
The skeletal trees, stripped of their summer green and fiery autumn leaves, stand in a white shroud of snow like stoic models of resilience and grace.
—Verb
But a new study has cast doubt on the idea that the intriguing world shrouded in ice could indeed harbor extraterrestrial life deep in its vast ocean of liquid saltwater.
—Cite this Entry
“Shroud.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shroud. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
Kids Definition
shroud
1 of 2 noun1
: the cloth placed over or around a dead body
2
: something that covers or shelters like a shroud
a shroud of secrecy
3
: one of the ropes that go from the masthead of a ship to the sides to provide support to the mast
shroud
2 of 2 verb
: to cover with or as if with a shroud
shrouded in fog
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