What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

What is the difference between hide and disguise?

hide | disguise |

Disguise is a synonym of hide.



In transitive terms the difference between hide and disguise

is that hide is to put (something) in a place where it will be harder to discover or out of sight while disguise is to avoid giving away or revealing (something secret); to hide by a false appearance.

hide

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) hiden, huden, from (etyl) . Related to (l) and (l).

Verb

  • To put (something) in a place where it will be harder to discover or out of sight.
  • * 1856 , (Gustave Flaubert), (Madame Bovary), Part III Chapter XI, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
  • The blind man, whom he had not been able to cure with the pomade, had gone back to the hill of Bois-Guillaume, where he told the travellers of the vain attempt of the druggist, to such an extent, that Homais when he went to town hid himself behind the curtains of the "Hirondelle" to avoid meeting him.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Timothy Garton Ash)
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli , passage=Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.}}
  • To put oneself in a place where one will be harder to find or out of sight.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= William E. Conner
  • , title= An Acoustic Arms Race , volume=101, issue=3, page=206-7, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Nonetheless, some insect prey take advantage of clutter by hiding in it. Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.}}
    Synonyms
    * (transitive) conceal, hide away, secrete * (intransitive) go undercover, hide away, hide oneself, hide out, lie low
    Antonyms
    * (transitive) disclose, expose, reveal, show, uncover * (intransitive) reveal oneself, show oneself
    Derived terms
    * hide and seek / hide-and-seek * hideaway * hideout * hide one's light under a bushel * hider * one can run but one can't hide

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (countable) (mainly British) A covered structure from which hunters, birdwatchers, etc can observe animals without scaring them.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) , 'to cover'. More at (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (countable) The skin of an animal.
  • (obsolete, or, derogatory) The human skin.
  • * Shakespeare
  • O tiger's heart, wrapped in a woman's hide !
  • (uncountable, informal, usually, US) One's own life or personal safety, especially when in peril.
  • * 1957 , (Ayn Rand), Francisco d'Anconia's speech in (Atlas Shrugged):
  • The rotter who simpers that he sees no difference between the power of money and the power of the whip, ought to learn the difference on his own hide —as I think he will.
    Synonyms
    * (animal skin) pelt, skin * (land measure) carucate
    Derived terms
    * cowhide * damn your hide * have someone's hide * rawhide * tan someone's hide

    Verb

  • To beat with a whip made from hide.
  • * 1891 , Robert Weir, J. Moray Brown, Riding
  • He ran last week, and he was hided , and he was out on the day before yesterday, and here he is once more, and he knows he's got to run and to be hided again.

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) hide, from (etyl) . More at (l), (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A medieval land measure equal to the amount of land that could sustain one free family; usually 100 acres. Forty hides equalled a barony.
  • disguise

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Attire (e.g. clothing, makeup) used to hide one's identity or assume another.
  • ''That cape and mask complete his disguise .
  • (figuratively) The appearance of something on the outside which masks what's beneath.
  • The act of disguising, notably as a ploy
  • ''Any disguise may expose soldiers to be deemed enemy spies.

    Synonyms

    * camouflage * guise * mask * pretense

    Verb

  • To change the appearance of (a person or thing) so as to hide, or to assume an identity.
  • Spies often disguise themselves.
  • * Macaulay
  • Bunyan was forced to disguise himself as a wagoner.
  • To avoid giving away or revealing (something secret); to hide by a false appearance.
  • He disguised his true intentions.
  • (archaic) To affect or change by liquor; to intoxicate.
  • * Spectator
  • I have just left the right worshipful, and his myrmidons, about a sneaker or five gallons; the whole magistracy was pretty well disguised before I gave them the ship.

    Synonyms

    * cloak * mask * hide

    Derived terms

    * disguisedly * disguisement * disguiser