Ways of saying you think there may be rain.

1- It looks like rain.

The sentence is good English and is used in all versions of American, British ,Australian versions.
It is used when for example you see dark clouds in the sky. 

2- It looks like it’s going to rain.

Strictly speaking ,some people consider it as incorrect or even non-standard because like is a preposition and can not be followed by a clause The sentence,however, commonly used  in informal style. 

3- It looks as if it’s going to rain.

It is used more in both formal&informal speech and in all varieties of English;but it is not more common than the second form.


4- It feels//smells like rain/as if it's going to rain /smell like rain
If there are no clouds, but you have an intuitive feeling or there's an odd wind or a drop in temperature or your bad knee is aching, you'll say it feels like rain. 

You can refer to different aches/pains as signs that it may rain;in this case, you'll say it feels like rain  : ache/pain in knees, feet, back, etc:

 - There's a shooting pain in my back.feels like rain. 

5- It sounds like rain/as if OR like it's going to rain.
We use this form when we have some evidence, for example something we see or hear,
which lets us predict something that is about to happen or will happen soon.

6- It seems like rain/like Or as if it's going to rain .

It is used to indicate that you are quite sure it will rain after you've have heard several weather reports predicting rain .

7- It’s going to rain.
It's used when you're totally sure that it will rain by seeing  black clouds, hearing thunder.

So, the sentences 1-4 mean that you think the sky looks like there might be rain, but you don't know for sure if there will be. 

8-There's rain in the air

The sentence is used even when no rain is literally falling.


9-It looks like the heavens are about to open

It means it's going to rain soon.

To hide your feelings/intensions from others

Hide

- We hid our anger under a big smile.

- She tried to hide her excitement after wining the contest.

- You should not hide your grief and sorrow after your father's death.

Conceal

To hide your intentions or feelings from someone:

- John concealed his sorrow from me.

- He could not conceal his surprise .

- She has never concealed her ambition to be the Miss of the world

Disguise

To hide opinions, ,feelings or intentions etc by pretending to feel something else:

- He didn't disguise his bitterness about what had happened.

- A thinly disguised attempt to embarrass the prime minister.

- She couldn’t disguise the fact that she felt uncomfortable.

- disguised his anger behind a false geniality.

Camouflage

Hide or disguise a feeling,an intention,etc by means of camouflage.

- He believed that her kindness was merely a camouflage for her real intentions.

- The constant party going of her later years was a desperate camouflage for her grief.

- Aggression is often a camouflage for insecurity.

- Her angry words were camouflage for the way she felt.

Mask

To deliberately avoid showing your feelings in your behavior or the truth about a situation, so that it cannot be easily seen or noticed:

- Dena lit a cigarette, trying to mask her agitation.

- Men often mask their true feelings with humor.

- She spoke calmly, masking her anger.

- She masked her anger with a smile.

- He masked his real purpose.

- She made a desperate attempt to mask her horror at the news of her father's death.

dissemble

A word often used in literary style meaning To disguise or conceal your real feelings,intentions often by pretending to have different ones:

- She smiled, dissembling her true emotion.

- She had, as far as he knew, no reason to be curious, and therefore no reason to dissemble her curiosity.

dissimulate

A formal word meaning To disguise (one's intentions, for example) under a feigned appearance or by lying:

- We don't need to dissimulate our lack of interest to gain the power.

- She smiled to dissimulate her anger.

Suppress

To stop yourself from showing an emotion, especially one that might offend someone:

- Anya sucks at the insides of her own cheeks to suppress a smile

- she could not suppress a rising panic.

- She was unable to suppress her anger.

- He could hardly suppress his surprise.

- As Karen nodded, Rory failed to suppress a shiver.

Repress

To not allow something, especially feelings, to be expressed:

- Denying or repressing sorrow often seems the easiest way out when confronted with death.

- We should not suppress or repress our anger feelings.

- I couldn't repress a sigh of admiration.

- He was unable to repress his laugh.

- You mean --; Cheltenham?'; said Robert, unable to repress a smile.

- For much of the day we need to be able to repress some feelings to enable us to concentrate or to use our intellects.

- Such people give more than they take; they tend to hide their emotions and repress their desires just to please others.

Bottle something up

To deliberately avoid showing strong feelings or emotions especially if you are angry,worried or upset.

- Patients who bottle up their feelings are often helped by being encouraged to express these emotions.

- He was a great believer in expressing aggression, not bottling it up.

- I've been bottling it up inside me far too long.

- Nearly six months after the tragedy, he's still bottling it up.

Be non- committal

To avoid showing what you think about something or what you intend to do,when answering a question or making a statement:

- The manager remained non committal about the chances of his team to win the match.

- The president was non committal about his plans to bring the economy out of the recession.

- She was non committal about her decision to get divorced .

Put on a brave face/put a brave face on /put on a good face

To pretend that you are happy about a situation while you are upset.In American English you can also say put on a good face.

- He was putting a brave face on it but she knew he was shattered.

- He failed in his exams but he tried to put a brave face on it.

Like vs. As if

Like is a preposition and as if is a conjunction and they state something that is not true, but it is like something true and compare a real situation with an imaginary situation. They both follow verbs such as seem, sound, look, act, behave…

When using the two, note that like is directly followed by a noun or an object and as if followed by a clause:

- It looks like it will rain. (Incorrect)

- It looks like rain. (Correct)

- It looks as if it will rain.(correct)

- He behaved them as if his children. (Incorrect)

- He behaved them as if they were his children. (Correct)

- He behaved them like his children.(correct)

Now compare the following sentences:

- It looks like it’s going to rain.

- It looks as if it’s going to rain.

Strictly speaking, Only the second sentence is right because like here is used to introduce verb phrases while it is a preposition and comes with nouns; but it is unlikely you don’t hear the first context in conversations.

Other examples:

- It seems /sounds/ looks like good (incorrect)

- It seems to be a good idea/seems /sounds/ looks like a good idea (correct)

- It seems /sounds/ looks as if it were a good idea.(correct)

As vs. As if vs. Like

Note the following sentences:

1- He acts as a teacher.(his job is teacher)

2- He acts as if he is a teacher.

3- He acts like a teacher.

 2&3 mean he is not a teacher but acts in a way that he seems to be a teacher

Suppress vs. Repress vs. Oppress

Suppress, repress and oppress have similarities and differences .Each is a synonym for the others. Yet the there is a slight difference between  them .Although they are very similar in meaning there are small distinct differences governing their proper use so that they can be interchangeably used in many occasions especially the two former and particularly when they are used in political context.but they each have unique distinctions:

Similarities

1- Suppress and repress mean to stop yourself from showing your feelings:

- He could not suppress/repress a cry of pain as his knee hit the wood.

- It will be impossible for him to suppress/repress the desire for revenge.

- They cannot suppress/repress feelings of amazement at the wonderful world.

- He is in a hurry.' True," said Tom, unable to suppress/repress a smile.

- Those who had said they would suppress/repress their anger showed a death rate 2 times those who express it.

2- They are used to indicate that a government uses force or violence ruthlessly to stop people from opposing:

A- The court found him guilty of trying to suppress/repress demonstrations during last May's uprisings.

B- The uprising was ruthlessly suppressed/ repressed.

C- The army was prepared to suppress / repress rebellion by shooting down the protesters.

D- The government suppressed/repressed the citizens,peasants,...

Oppress has a near meaning with suppress and repress :

To treat people who are less powerful in an unfair and cruel way especially by keeping them from having the same rights that other people in society have :


- The regime is accused of oppressing religious minorities.
- The tyrant oppressed the citizens .
- The government oppresses political activists.


 The former two have a wider range of meaning and can be used in the above contexts instead of oppress but the meaning slightly differs; these words don’t mean exactly the same thing:
Take the sentences A-D, oppress only can be interchangeably used with suppress and repress in sentence D. 

 

3- The two are synonymous in this sense: To inhibit (unpleasant or painful ideas or memories) to avoid considering it:

- He had suppressed/repressed the painful memories of his childhood.

-…the agonizing fear and rage she had had to repress/suppress when she was ten years old and came home.

-.. latent reaction to injuries he had to repress/suppress when a child.

However, they cannot be used interchangeably in this use because:
Suppress means to consciously dismiss from the mind (unacceptable ideas, impulses, etc.):

- I tried to suppress these unpleasant memories.

Repress means to suppress (painful, unpleasant, disturbing memories or thoughts) in oneself automatically or unconsciously from the conscious mind, to stop remembering:

- Children do not normally repress the thought of death.

- The thought that he had killed his brother was so terrible that he repressed it .

For more information about the difference between suppression and repression in this sense click here.

Differences

The two each have their unique senses:

4- Suppress is used to indicate that an authority keeps important information, opinions, or books from being revealed, published, or circulated:

- The police were accused of suppressing evidence.

- The government attempted to suppress any reports of anti-social behavior by the oppositions.

5- Suppress means to prevent a physical process or reaction from happening or developing:

a) to restrain from a usual course or action <suppress a cough,appetite>
b) to inhibit the growth or development of:

- Use of the drug suppressed the immune response.
- The virus suppresses the body's immune system.

Repress means to inhibit the natural development or self-expression of (someone or something):
- Too much bureaucracy represses creativity/a child.

Such as vs. Such...as

Such as and such…as are the same in meaning and can be used in many cases instead of each other but there are differences between them:

Similarities

They are used to introduce examples:

- ..careers such as/such careers as teaching, nursing, hairdressing and catering.

- ...delays such as/ delays caused by such things as bad weather or industrial disputes.

- On a day such as today/on such a day as today, it's hard to imagine that things will ever be normal again.

 You use such...as to link something or someone with a clause in which you give a description of the kind of thing or person that you mean.

- Each member of the alliance agrees to take such actions as/ take actions such as it deems necessary, - Including the use of armed force...

- Britain is not enjoying such prosperity as/ the prosperity such as it was in the mid-1980s.

- Children do not use inflections such as/such inflections as are used in mature adult speech...

Differences

You use such...as to introduce a reference to the person or thing that has just been mentioned.

- There have been previous attempts at coups. We regard such methods as entirely

unacceptable...

- There'd be no telling how John would react to such news as this.

We use such...as in formal style for emphasizing that something is not enough for a particular purpose:

- Such experience as I have is useless in this situation.

- Such changes as they made were minor and did not go far enough.

- Such food as they gave us was scarcely fit to eat.

- Such advice as he was given (= it was not very much) has proved almost worthless.

Note that in this sense it is synonymous with  inadequate, insufficient, scant, meager, pitiful.

Such as vs. Like

Like and such as are used to give examples of something between two or several nouns or groups. They both mean for example , but we can not use it as a replacement for either one. There are a lot of arguments over the uses of the two, usually some of which based on personal beliefs . They can be used interchangeably in many occasions (not always) and sometimes there are subtle distinctions between them:

Like seems to be of higher frequency in spoken English, while such as is more common in written or formal spoken English But in formal written contexts, most editors still attempt to maintain a useful distinction between a like comparison and a such as comparison.

-Today I have a lot of works to do, like shopping, cleaning the house, picking children from school… 

Like can be used to mention examples to mean "such as":

- A lot of older people, like my grandparents, for example, are enjoying their retirement by traveling all over the world.

-There are many things to do on the beach, like swimming, surfing ,biking and getting a tan.

We can replace like with such as in the above sentences, but like sounds less formal .

Strictly, there seems to be the following distinctions:

1-When they are used to compare two or more nouns, like essentially means similar to or in the manner of. while, such as means for example:

Compare following sentences:

- The animals like the Iranian cheetahs are classed as an endangered species .

- The animals, like the Iranian cheetahs are classed as an endangered species .

- The animals such as the Iranian cheetahs are classed as an endangered species .

The first sentence says that the animals that are similar to the Iranian cheetah- say, for example, African or Asian cheetahs are classed as endangered species. It doesn’t suggest that other  species, such as Siberian tiger, Leopard, Brown bear are endangered.

Like and such as in The second and the third ones can mean for example and indicate that the Iranian cheetah is an example of the endangered species that can include Siberian tiger, Leopard, Brown bear… .
Therefore, when using like notice the comma before it, otherwise it makes ambiguity.

2- A lot of mistakes happen when like is used in the sense of similar to:

- Sculptors, like painters see their art as a cosa mentale, work that requires intellectual activity.

In this sentence and the ones like this which the word like showing similarity between two things, using such as in this sentence sounds incorrect because a sculptor is not a painter; In a sentence of this form, the noun after like is generally assumed to be more familiar to the reader than is the subject of the sentence. If we wanted to replace like with such as to make a correct sentence, we would have to change painters to names of some sculptors:

- Sculptors, such as Paul Soldner, Elaine Coleman, Don Reitz see their art as a cosa mentale, work that requires intellectual activity.

Also notice the following sentences:

- Her son wants to be a man like his father.

Incorrect: His son wants to be a man such as his father.

- I like to have a car like yours.

Incorrect: I like to have a car such as yours.

Another misuse: A few days ago a friend of mine told me that I saw a movie starring actors like Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp .In fact the actors were Cruise and Depp and he should have used such as instead of like but if you take his word literally It means he saw a movie with Cruise and Depp imitators .

3- When like means in the manner of : 

Like means "in the manner of this one," but it also includes the idea of "not necessarily this exact one." For example, here's a proper use: "Since the end of the 1960s, people from all parts of the world like Hitler have tried but failed to institute a new world order."
http://barelybad.com/words2.htm
There have been mentioned many other distinctions which I ignore them. The followings are some comments and excerpts from some notable authors and websites about the difference between such as and like:

A- Here is an excerpt from alt-usage-english.org :

The Little, Brown Handbook (6th ed., HarperCollins, 1995) says:

"Strictly, such as precedes an example that represents a larger subject, whereas like indicates that two subjects are comparable.Steve has recordings of many great saxophonists such as Ben Webster and Lee Konitz. Steve wants to be a great jazz saxophonist like Ben Webster and Lee Konitz." Nobody would use "such as" in the second sentence; the disputed usage is "like" in the first sentence.

B- And this is a comment from http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~gernot/style-guide.html :

When you are referring to a set, the members of which have in common a given characteristic, and you wish to give an example that is a member of that set, you should use such as. When you are referring to a set that does not include your example, but that contains members that resemble your example, you should use like. Examples: Students, such as those at UNSW, sometimes are having fun. Sometimes they behave like children with a new toy. (Note that British/Australian English is more relaxed about this rule than American English.)

C- http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/grammarlogs2/grammarlogs368.htm :

Whether you stick with such as or switch to like when introducing examples of a class seems to be a matter purely of taste. Burchfield recommends using such as when referring to more than one example: "Romantic composers such as Chopin, Schubert, and Tchaikovsky. . . ." But when referring to a single example (thing or person), either like or such as is acceptable: "A Romantic composer like Tchaikovsky. . . ."

Burchfield also allows for the object form of the pronoun after such as (in sentences such as the one you suggest). Some writers insist that the such as is introducing a kind of understood clause, which would demand the subject form: "You don't often find a friend such as I [am]." But Burchfield takes note of sentences like Macaulay's "They were not bad, for such as her.

D- drgrammar.com


"Writers whom we respect disagree on whether there is any significant difference between like and such as. Wilson Follett and Theodore Bernstein say no. James J. Kilpatrick says yes. We come down gingerly on the side of Kilpatrick. His argument seems valid: 'When we are talking of large, indefinite fields of similarity, like properly may be used.' When we are talking about specifically named persons [places or things] . . . included in a small field, we ought to use such as.' In 'Books like this one can help you write better,' like means similar to. In 'Cities such as Atlanta and Birmingham are important to the economy of the Southeast,' the intent is to specify those cities as examples, not merely to put them into a broad category of cities that are important to the economy of the Southeast" (Lederer and Dowis, Sleeping Dogs Don't Lay 79).

Note that:
Don’t use too many like or such as in your sentences :

- Most of the oil producing countries, like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Kuwait try to invest in oil-based- products like(use such as) petrol, petrochemicals,…

- President Festus Mogae says small nations such as Botswana and Barbados faced similar challenges (use like)such as diversifying and building sustainable...

Both Such as me  and such as myself are used but notice that such as myself  seems more common:
With like you'd better use me instead of myself :

People like me /people such as myself  seek the truth.

Like vs. As

Like and As are used to indicate that something is similar to other thing .The two have similarities and distinctions:

1- Grammatically, like is used as both preposition and adverb to give examples and is followed by:
a-A noun or pronoun as a preposition 

- South American countries like Peru, Colombia and Brazil tried to establish…

- Flowers like rose, require special care.

- Various trees, like oak or pine

b-A gerund (-ing form of the verb, used as a noun), or a noun clause:

- He has a lot of hobbies, like painting, skiing.

Notice that such as and as can be used instead of like in the above contexts. Although in various dictionaries such as the freedictionary.com ,dictionary.com and Merriam -Webster.com, it has been mentioned that as can be used as an adverb instead of like in the above sentences , practically, the word is not recommended in many grammar books and generally it is not very common in this use.

c- A noun or adjective meaning In the manner of being; as if. Used as an intensifier of action:

- Worked like hell; Ran like crazy. We'll have to run like the wind.

As can not be used in this case.


Like is used to indicate the comparisons of two or several things:

- A man like him can be the ideal person for the position.(Not a man AS him…)

- My car is not like your car.(Not My car is not AS your car)

- Her hair is dark brown like mine.(Not Her hair is dark brown as mine)

Using As and Like as conjunctions

2- As is used as a conjunction and introduces a subordinate clause (a clause contains a verb); so it can be used:
A- Before a clause:

- Nobody can speak English in the class as he does.

- They don’t know the new boss as I do.

- They often take a nap after lunch, as we do in Iran

- He is not good at French, as I am.

Like can be used as a preposition which is only followed by an object or pronoun:

- Nobody can speak English in the class like him.

- They don’t know the new boss like me.

- They often take a nap after lunch, like us in Iran.

- He is not good at French, like me.

 like in this use is only limited to casual or conversational English, but they're not grammatically correct .

Like is used in informal style as a conjunction and is more common than as in this case:

- Nobody can speak English in the class like he does.

- They don’t know the new boss like I do.

- They often take a nap after lunch, like we do in Iran

- He is not good at French, like I am.

Grammatically sticking, This use of like is considered wrong because like only can be used as a preposition but many believe that this kind of use of like is getting more common and acceptable as a conjunction in informal English.

B- Before an expression(usually time or place) beginning with a preposition:

- This weekend as in last weekend we are going to go skiing

-There is too much traffic in London as in New York.

- In 1994 as in 1995 he made a great fortune in his business.

 In this use like can be used instead of as .

In meaning as is used to indicate that two things are equivalent, while like shows that they're similar. In other words, as is used to describe that someone/something has a particular job or function.

Like is used as a preposition to imply that something or someone is in like manner with; similarly to; in the manner characteristic of

Compare the following sentences:

a) He treated Mary as a friend.

(He was the friend of Mary)

b) He treated Mary like a friend.
(He was not the friend of Mary but treated her in a way that everyone may have thought Mary was his friend. Mary here has simply been compared to a friend)

3- Like as an adverb means in the same way as; as in this sense can replace with like:

- It happened like/as you might expect it would.

- Make the cake like/as you did last week.

- I'll help her like/as I would help anyone.

Like, though, is used informally in these sentences. It would also be correct in this sentence.

Words for describing sth that sb has hidden

Hidden
- The treasure was hidden in a small cave.
- I found my book hidden under a table.
- I showed him the videos taken of his house by a hidden camera.
- It passed and he looked upriver to where Mariana lay hidden upstream of the fallen tree trunk.
- They are easily accessible and hidden from view.                                                                              -The money was carefully hidden somewhere in the house.
- They are not able to find the Monument yet has remained hidden from the mysterious workers.
- I doubt very much they're hidden under your pillow.
- Four people from different countries are hidden away in the damp jungles of Panama.
- Yet, in the hidden away little resort of Portals Nous, there is an oasis of calm, - - tranquility and romance, centered around the Hotel Portals.
- lie/remain hidden treasures which have lain hidden in bank vaults since the war.
- remain/stay hidden The truth may well remain hidden for ever.

Concealed
- What are the concealed aims of the group?
- The police managed to find the concealed monument under water.
- He kept his money concealed behind a big rock.
- The responsibilities of the museum decided to keep the painting concealed from the public view.

Words for describing feelins,emotions,attitudes etc. that sb hides

Hidden
- Do You Have Many Hidden Talents To Explore?
- I see a hidden courage in him which .

Suppressed
  Suppressed feelings are the strong emotions like fear,anger,live... that you try to stop them showing by force:

- He was full of suppressed emotions that wanted to express them.
- Suppressed anger is harmful and can kill you.

Repressed
Repressed feelings and emotions are the ones that you deliberately try to keep them from being expressed:

- Doctors advised him to handle his negative and repressed feelings.
- while suppressed emotions are very undesirable, the important question most people would ask is “How can I safely release suppressions...

Disguised
To hide your true feelings so as to prevent people from knowing them:

- She attacked her boss with a badly disguised hostility.
- he was talking with a thinly disguised anxiety which was clear for every body.
- This is lust thinly disguised as love.
- Don't allow unjust criticism to disturb you; it may be a disguised compliment.

Veiled
Veiled describes words or ways of behaving which are not direct or expressed clearly:

- A veiled reference/threat/warning
- A thinly veiled attack on his abilities as a leader.
- A thinly veiled threat.
- He intended to make a veiled public appeal for more cash for the police services.
- English people are notoriously repressed and don't talk about their feelings.

Words for describing sth that sb has hidden

Hidden

- The treasure was hidden in a small cave.
- I found my book hidden under a table.
- I showed him the videos taken of his house by a hidden camera.
- It passed and he looked upriver to where Mariana lay hidden upstream of the fallen tree trunk.
- They are easily accessible and hidden from view.                                                                              -The money was carefully hidden somewhere in the house.
- They are not able to find the Monument yet has remained hidden from the mysterious workers.
- I doubt very much they're hidden under your pillow.
- Four people from different countries are hidden away in the damp jungles of Panama.
- Yet, in the hidden away little resort of Portals Nous, there is an oasis of calm, - - tranquility and romance, centered around the Hotel Portals.
- lie/remain hidden treasures which have lain hidden in bank vaults since the war.
- remain/stay hidden The truth may well remain hidden for ever.

Concealed

- What are the concealed aims of the group?
- The police managed to find the concealed monument under water.
- He kept his money concealed behind a big rock.
- The responsibilities of the museum decided to keep the painting concealed from the public view.

A place for hidding yourself

Hiding place
- They were looking for a good hiding place to conceal their money .
- I knew a safe hiding place ,no one could ever find it.
- He returned to his hiding place after killing three people.
- The cops couldn't find me although they walked right pass me within a few meters of my hiding place.

Place to hide
- She said to me: `;Look, just to shut you up, I'll find a better place to hide it.
- Yesterday --; All my troubles seemed so far away --; Now I need a place to hide away.
- Grabbed both children and ran, but realized soon there was no place to hide.
- These damaging pests have found that your compost bin is a lovely place to hide and shelter.

Hideout
A word meaning a place to hide which is often used in conversation:

- Have they got a secret hideout?
- The police officers identified the place as having been the kidnappers' hideout.
- Police track down bomb suspects to Bombay hideout.
- The navigators would disappear into their hideout and work out their courses and prepare their charts.

To deliberately attempt to conceal truth or information from the public

Cover up
To attempt to conceal the truth or information about an illegal or unethical act or situation like crimes,scandals or serious mistakes especially about politicians so that people cannot discover them :

- The congress accused the police to cover up the crime.
- The President lied to cover up his relationships with the woman.
- the CIA wanted to cover up its failure in the aftermath of the events that took place in Riyadh.
- The authorities attempted to cover up the homicide.

Also as a noun
- He suggests in his upcoming memoirs that Reagan was directly involved in a " deliberate " cover-up effort.
- The Food and Drug Administration is currently investigating an alleged cover-up by Hoffman on its adverse effects of the new drug.
- He said I didn't realize they were participating in a cover-up.
- He's is angrily denying that he approved a massive " sea of lies " cover-up in connection with the 1988 downing of an Iranian commercial airliner with 290 people aboard.

Whitewash
To hide mistakes,faults or unpleasant facts about something or someone espeially a government or a politician.

- He claimed that the whole crime was whitewashed.
- this is not to whitewash the actual political practice of the government.
- Japan is accused of whitewashing its history of warfare and imperialism by omitting or minimizing subjects such as the Nanking Massacre in textbooks.[
- Angry protesters whitewashed the offensive billboards.

Also as a noun
- He pledged that there would be no whitewash and that the police would carry out a full investigation...
- the report was a whitewash.
- The official report on the taxes has been condemned as a total whitewash.

To deliberately hide facts or information

Hide
- The authorities tried to hide the facts from the people.
- I feel sure there's something about her past that she's trying to hide from me.
- He tried to hide his addiction from his father.

Conceal
- She concealed any evidences of her father’s murders.
- The authorities concealed the facts of the CIA involvement in the uprising.
- He concealed the truth from her.

Keep something secret
To deliberately not allow somebody knows a subject or an event:

- The authorities told me that you must keep the event secret.
- The resupply effort was probably kept secret from Congress.
- They kept the plan secret from other people.

Suppress
To prevent someone from knowing information or facts:

- The government tried to suppress the book because of the information it contained about the security services.
- At no time did they try to persuade me to suppress the information...
- Police were accused of suppressing evidence that might have proved that the men were innocent.
- The CIA has often tried to suppress reports that are embarrassing to the agency.

Cover up
To conceal evidence of wrongdoing, error, incompetence or other embarrassing information:

- He decided to cover up his apartment's ugly kitchen with portable mats rather than install permanent flooring..
- They tried to cover up their own inabilities and errors.
- When Caroline visits her handsome ex-beau at his office, she tries to cover up her attraction to him.
- A lot of good dialogue in films is the lies people tell to cover up what they're really feeling.
- I was amazed that the building contractors we hired tried to cover up the problems they had.

Hush up
To keep something immoral or dishonest secret and from public knowledge by authorities; suppress mention of:

- The scandal has been discussed by the politburo, although the authorities have tried to hush it up...
- The Ministry desperately tried to hush up the whole affair.
- The whole affair was hushed up by the government.
- Did the CIA hush up top-secret operation against Al-Qaeda? -
- It is at the behest of New Delhi that a desperate attempt is being made to hush up the case.

Cover your tracks
To be careful not to leave any signs or evidence that show know where you have been or what you have doing because you want to keep it a secret, usually because it is illegal:

- Roberts covered his tracks by throwing the knife in the river and burying his wife's body.
- He tried to cover his tracks by burning all the documents.
- They moved constantly and furtively, covering their tracks and contacting nobody.

Draw a veil over sth
A formal word meaning to hide or avoid discussing an unpleasant event or something happened in the past because it could cause trouble or make someone embarrassed:

- I think we should draw a veil over this conversation and pretend it never happened.
- Louise drew a veil over the accounting errors.
- It looked as if Luke's pride had allowed him to draw a veil over last night's final moments, and she was grateful for it.
- Think it best to draw a veil over the whole incident.
- Both sides sought to draw a veil over the argument.

Sweep or brush something under the carpet (British, American & Australian)/Sweep something under the rug (American & Australian)
To try to keep a problem, difficulty, mistake or an unpleasant thing secret in the hope that it will be forgotten or ignored:

-For a long time they tried to sweep under the carpet the crime.
-The real issues are just swept under the carpet and ignored.
-The problem is usually ignored or swept under the carpet.
-Refuse to sweep difficulties under the carpet but sort things out even when it is painful.
-We knew that it wouldn't just go away if we swept it under the carpet.
-The authorities tried to sweep the scandal under the carpet.

Keep something under wraps
keep something hidden and secret, not show or talk about Details of  it:

- They kept the information under wraps

- The judge kept the proceedings under wraps.

- The project has been kept under wraps for years.
- Details of the police operation are being kept under wraps.

- Many buyers preferred to keep their identities under wraps.

Keep something dark
A British word meaning to keep something secret and hidden from other people:

- I have a promotion but keep it dark.
- A retired teacher kept his wife murder secret for more than two decades .
- They kept their political activities dark.

Keep somebody in the dark also leave somebody in the dark
To intentionally conceal information from someone. Either to avoid confrontation or to gain from the other’s lack of information:

- Congress complained about being kept in the dark about the peace talks.
- When it comes to keeping something secret, the plan should be to keep in the dark.
- Council has kept us in the dark over plan.
- They kept me in the dark about their plans
- Public kept in the dark about talks on North American integration
- Liberal Catholic bishops kept in the dark over secret talks ...

Former vs. Previous

Former and previous are used to describe someone or something that used to exist or occur but no longer exists or occurs; but there are subtle differences between them:

“Former” implies “of the past, having taken place in the (historical) past.”
“Previous” means only “before”—as in a sequence.

The opposite of previous is next and the opposite of former is latter. Followings are the comparisons between the two :

1- Former and previous can be used to describe someone who had a particular position, role or job in the past, but no longer has it:
 
- …former President Richard Nixon…
- He pleaded not guilty to murdering his former wife.
- The ceremony honored all the former presidents who are still living.


A former president of the USA refers to any of presidents that used to be in that position (e.g. Abraham Lincoln or George H. W. Bush).The previous president means any president just before the one under discussion.The president of the USA is only the one who was in that position before the current president of the USA. (current president of the USA is Barack Obama; George W. Bush was before him); or any president that was before any other president in that position in the past (e.g. Ronald Reagan was before George H. W. Bush).

- “When Lincoln took office, he found that the previous president had left him some unfinished business.”
- In 1798, George Washington was “the former president,” but there was no “previous president.”
- The former employee of the company had lost her three previous jobs.
2- Former is used to refer to countries which no longer exist or whose boundaries have changed:

- …the former Soviet Union.
- …the former Yugoslavia.
In this use previous is rarely used.

3- Former and previous is used to describe something which used to belong to someone or which used to be a particular thing:

- …the former/previous home of Sir Christopher Wren.
- …a former/previous monastery.
- Their farm has been reduced to half its former/previous size.
Their difference follows the one was described in No.1.

4- Former and previous is used to indicate that something comes proceeding in place or arrangement:


- The former chapter of the book refers to any of the chapters you used to read.
- The previous chapter of the book implies the chapter just before the one you are reading.

5- The two words are used to indicate that something occurred in the past:

- The former/previous correspondence.
- The former/previous world champion.

6- Former and previous both are used to describe a situation or period of time, which came before the present one. Former is more formal than previous; but previous is much more common:

- He would want you to remember him as he was in former/previous years.
- Marble pillars and high painted ceilings remain from former/ previous times.


Previous refers to the period or the thing immediately before the one that you are talking about:

- It was a surprisingly dry day after the rain of the previous week.
- She looked tired after her exertions of the previous evening.


7- When two people, things, or groups have just been mentioned, you can refer to the first of them as the former. Previous in this use is not used:

- Given the choice between a pure white T-shirt and a more expensive, dirty cream one, most people can be forgiven for choosing the former…
Opposit:latter

Resources
Mcmillan Dictionary
Collins Cobuild dictionary

Absorb vs. Adsorb

Absorb means to suck up or drink in (a liquid, gas or other substances):

- Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air and moisture from the soil...
- The timber expands as it absorbs moisture from the atmosphere.

Adsorb indicates that a solid holds molecules of a gas or liquid or solute as a thin film or condensed layer on the outside surface or on internal surfaces within the material:

- Charcoal will not adsorb nitrates .
- The dye is adsorbed on to the fiber.

Disguise

Verb
1- To change your appearance,sound or taste etc of something, especially in order to hide your appearance:

- She has had a lot of cosmetic surgery in an attempt to disguise her age.
- We disguised our faces before robbing the bank.
- There's no way you can disguise that southern accent.

2- To conceal or cover up the truth ,feelings,opinions or actual character of by a counterfeit form or appearance; misrepresent:

- She tried to disguise her intention.
- He didn't disguise his anger.

Noun
A) A dress or exterior put on for purposes of concealment or of deception; as, persons doing unlawful acts in disguise are subject to heavy penalties.

- She was wearing a disguise of a blond wig and glasses.
- He has adopted so many disguises her own mother wouldn't recognize him.
- His bizarre disguise drew stares from fellow shoppers.

B) The concealing of one's true intentions or feelings:
- That eye which glances through all disguises.
- His cheerful manner is a disguise that hides the pain.

Collocations

Disguise as
- Well, it may be hard to disguise junk as health food.
- He managed to escape by disguising himself as a woman.
- She disguised herself as a boy.

Disguised as
- He escaped across the border disguised as a priest.
- The extremists entered the building disguised as medical workers.
- A letter bomb disguised as a musical greetings card.
- They got in disguised as security guards.

As a disguise
- He put on a large hat and glasses as a disguise and hoped no one would recognize him.
- I pun on glasses as a disguise.
- He grew beard and mustache as a disguise.

Disguise oneself
- She disguised herself as a man so she could fight on the battlefield.
- The spy disguised himself as a reporter and went into the hall to gather information.
- The journalist disguised himself as a waiter in order to get into the celebrity party.

The act of disguising:
Without disguise
- He spoke without without disguise.
- Rows of small children looked at her without disguise.

In disguise (wearing disguise)
The state of being disguised; masquerade:

- She usually goes out in disguise to avoid being bothered by the public. .
- He was instantly recognizable in any country, in any kind of uniform, even in disguise.
- The woman in the park turned out to be a police officer in disguise.
- The more artistic films are dismissed as pornography in disguise.
The last sentence has the meaning of: To hide what something really is, especially by making it seem better than it is.

Disguise in
- Then he gets into her bed and disguises himself in her clothes to trap the child.
- He was obviously Officer Cecil, poorly disguised in false mustache, tailcoat and spats.
- the most genuine threat to our lives came disguised in the quietest way, when we broke the cardinal rule of touching an unidentified creature.

Disguised by
- Their inadequacy is often disguised by the tax incentives that many governments give to institutional saving.
- Under capitalism, exploitation is disguised by the ideas of equality and freedom.
- She was just cheerfully fat, her obesity partly disguised by the fact that she, too, wore a Mother Hubbard.

Other prepositions
- She glanced sideways with disguise at the Canadian.
- He was wearing a hat and glasses in an absurd attempt at disguise, but he, Fedorov, was not deceived.
- There was no pretense or possibility of disguise with these men as there was with his charter party

Adjective
- He gave the secret information of the club to a disguised rival.
- She was about to marry a disguised man,not her real lover.
- It was a thinly disguised(= only slightly) attack on the President.

Adverbs
- The hijackers were heavily disguised.
- It was a thinly/barely disguised attack on the President.

Thinly disguised if something is thinly disguised etc, someone is pretending it is something else, but you can easily see what it really is:
- He looked at Frank's new car with thinly veiled envy.
- She was cleverly/cunningly disguised as a doctor.

Phrases
In an attempt/effort to disguise something/try to disguise something.
- He made no attempt to disguise his anger.
- he made no effort to disguise his contempt.

A blessing in disguise
something that has a good effect, although at first it seemed that it would be bad.
- Being omitted from the World Cup squad was a blessing in disguise.
- Poor Jonas' death was a blessing in disguise, though one could wish it had happened differently.
- Be positive, this could be a blessing in disguise, use the time gained wisely.

Adopt, Put on, Wear,Use

- I just put on disguise and played normally. play as if nothing has happened.
- OK now for this once be a sneaker on any level get an upgrade, put on a disguise until you get to the character you want to be
- So I put on a disguise, make my journey undercover.
- What disguises might an undercover reporter wear,Would you wear a disguise to your press conference?
- Brian must avoid detection by those around him, and can adopt disguises to fool onlookers
adopt a drastic/multiple disguises.
- she is obliged to adopt a series of elaborate disguises
- Spies had to adopt cunning disguises so that they could pass into enemy territory unnoticed
- The Use of Disguise in Elizabethan Drama.
- Robbers used underwear as disguise.
- The ability of the libertine to use disguise for individual interest and amusement is recognized.

Disguise that/the fact that
- Their healthy image disguises the fact that they are highly processed foods.
- We don't attempt to disguise that we're four fallible people up there playing music.
- There's no disguising the fact that(it is obvious that) business is bad.
- The essential purpose was to disguise the fact that Dennis was an alcoholic.

Disguise beneath
- There was hostility, disguised beneath the surface calm.

Can't/Couldn't
- She couldn’t disguise the fact that she felt uncomfortable.
- He could not disguise that he had had the worst imaginable day for any minister.

Related subjects
To hide sth/sb by changing their appearance,sound