fig-leaf

Noun

fig leaf (plural fig leaves)

1. A leaf of the fig plant.
2. A representation of leaf of a fig plant used to cover the genitals of a nude figure in a work of art (alluding to Genesis iii 7, in which Adam and Eve use fig leaves to hide their nakedness).
   • This figleaf morality expresses a very unhealthy mental attitude.1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 107
3. (figuratively) Anything used to conceal something undesirable or that one does not want to be discovered.
   • True, David Brog, one of the organizers of last week’s conference, insisted that national conservatives are not anti-immigrant. But this is a fig leaf. [University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy] Wax explicitly made an argument for limiting the number of nonwhites entering the US.2019 July 24, David Austin Walsh, “Flirting With Fascism”, in Jewish Currents