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
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
Coverture also meant that a man had largely unrestrained access to his wife’s body.
—Elizabeth Weingarten, The Atlantic, 15 June 2017
The answer partially lies in the practices of coverture, embedded in the old law of domestic relations that American colonists inherited from the British and didn’t change after the Revolution.
—Elizabeth Weingarten, The Atlantic, 15 June 2017
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
Coverture also meant that a man had largely unrestrained access to his wife’s body.
—Elizabeth Weingarten, The Atlantic, 15 June 2017
The answer partially lies in the practices of coverture, embedded in the old law of domestic relations that American colonists inherited from the British and didn’t change after the Revolution.
—Elizabeth Weingarten, The Atlantic, 15 June 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for coverture
Noun
-
Not only that, but Katie Gaudreau’s veil featured custom messages in her brothers’ handwriting.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
14 July 2025
-
The post also pulled back the veil, if only slightly, on the complex and secretive process federal officials use to determine who belongs on terrorism watch lists that can influence decisions every day by employers, airport security and law enforcement.—
Dan Horn,
The Enquirer,
14 July 2025
Noun
-
In heartbreak lives hope, and if June isn’t hanging up her cloak, then neither can any of us.—
Jackie Strause,
HollywoodReporter,
3 June 2025
-
The crackdown intensified sharply following the post-election unrest, the report adds, and continues today under a cloak of near-total impunity.—
Antonio Maria Delgado,
Miami Herald,
20 May 2025
Noun
-
Two of Harold’s three wives were there, his grown children, a handful of friends and colleagues: whoever could make it so far, in such haste, to see Harold put to rest in his shroud.—
Nicole Krauss,
The Atlantic,
6 July 2025
-
The hospital had run out of white shrouds to cover the deceased.—
Anas Baba,
NPR,
6 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Coverture.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/coverture. Accessed 20 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share