blanket

A large piece of thick cloth that you cover yourself with to stay warm.

• I need another blanket.
• She covered the sleeping child with a blanket.
• We brought blankets for the cold evening.

Common phrases: warm blanket, wool blanket, under a blanket, woollen blanket

A thick layer of something that covers a wide area.

• A blanket of snow covered the road.
• The hills disappeared under a blanket of fog.
• A thick blanket of smoke hung over the town.

How to use it: a blanket of something (The fields lay beneath a blanket of frost.)

Similar words: layer, covering

Common phrases: blanket of snow, blanket of fog, blanket of smoke

A thick rubber sheet that carries ink from a printing plate onto paper.

• The printer cleaned the blanket.
• Ink passes from the plate to the blanket.
• Worn blankets can leave marks on the paper.

Common phrases: printing blanket, rubber blanket, blanket cylinder

Applying to every person or situation, without making any exceptions.

• The town introduced a blanket ban on fireworks.
• They gave blanket approval to all the requests.
• A blanket rule may be unfair to some workers.

Similar words: general, overall, universal

Opposites: selective

Common phrases: blanket ban, blanket approval, blanket policy

To cover an area or thing completely with something.

• Snow blanketed the garden.
• Thick fog had blanketed the valley overnight.
• The fields were blanketed with ash.

How to use it: blanket something with something (The storm blanketed the roads with snow.); be blanketed in something (The village was blanketed in thick fog.)

Similar words: cover

Opposites: uncover

Common phrases: blanket something, blanket the city

To visit, search, or work across every part of an area.

• Sales teams blanketed the neighborhood.
• Volunteers blanketed the district with door-to-door visits.
• Police blanketed the area in their search for the child.

Similar words: cover, comb

Common phrases: blanket an area, blanket the neighborhood