noun

gloss

glos

noun

A shiny, polished surface.

"The lip gloss gave her lips a subtle shine."

An impressive appearance that hides something less impressive underneath.

"Beneath the glossy marketing gloss, the product barely worked."

A brief note explaining a difficult or foreign word, often placed in the margin or between the lines of a text.

"The scholar added glosses in the margin to explain the archaic Latin terms."

verb

(usually "gloss over") To skim past or downplay a problem instead of properly addressing it.

"The report glossed over the project's biggest failures."

How to Use Gloss

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA shiny surface or attractive-but-shallow appearance, or (in books) a short note explaining a tricky word.

Common mistake

"Gloss over" means to skip past something quickly to avoid dealing with it — not to make something shiny.

Common pairings

glossy finish gloss over add a gloss

Word Forms

glossed past tense, glossed past tense, glosses plural, glosses plural, glosses singular, glosses singular

Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Flow — saved to your collection.

Test yourself on “gloss” A quick quiz — meaning, synonyms & usage →

Fill the Gap

Can you complete this real example?

The lip _____ gave her lips a subtle shine.

Etymology

Possibly from a Scandinavian word for a spark or flame, related to a Germanic root meaning "to glow" — the shiny sense and the "explanatory note" sense may actually come from two different, unrelated old words that merged in English.

Rhymes for gloss

oss boss loss toss foss joss moss doss Voss Ross goss Hoss

See all rhymes for gloss →