Other forms: smokescreens
A smokescreen is anything used to hide what is really happening. A political smokescreen, put up a smokescreen, act as a smokescreen.
The literal one was a naval tactic: ships burned oil to lay a screen and slip away, and the figurative sense has almost swallowed it. It always implies deliberate concealment rather than accidental confusion.
1nounsmokescreenAnything used to hide what is really happening.
“The minister's talk of reform was just a smokescreen to distract from the scandal.”
smokescreen is a concealment.
From smoke + screen.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA