gloss over

present singular third person glosses over · participle present glossing over · participle past glossed over · past glossed over

1. idiomatictransitiveTo cover up a mistake or a crime; to hush up or whitewash.

   They glossed over the problem, hoping that the customers wouldn't notice.

   1 more example

   Plausibility, I know, can only be unmasked by shewing the absurdities it glosses over, and the simple truths it involves with specious errors.

   1790, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men

   Synonyms: paper over

2. idiomatictransitiveTo treat something with less care than it in some ways deserves; to ignore, or at least to discount or dismiss for the current purposes.

   This book only glosses over quantum mechanics; it doesn't go into detail.

   1 more example

   "I am afraid that we are trespassing," said the doctor, awkward between his promise to the girl and the necessity of glossing over the situation. "My friend is interested in antiquities—"

   1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC