ˈpeɪpər ˈoʊvər ðə kræks
General
neutral
advanced
- Literally:
- Covering wall cracks with wallpaper instead of repairing them
What does "paper over the cracks" mean?
To conceal problems temporarily rather than resolving them
Examples
- The pay raise merely papered over the cracks in employee morale.
- The coalition agreement papered over the cracks between the parties.
- Rebranding was just papering over the cracks — the real issue was quality.
Origin
Often attributed to Otto von Bismarck.
How to use it
Common in political and business contexts. More frequent in British English.
Similar expressions
sweep under the rug
put a band-aid on
gloss over
Opposites
address root causes
get to the bottom of
Related idioms
- actions speak louder than words
What people do is more important than what they say
- better safe than sorry
It's better to be careful and prevent problems than to take risks
- so far so good
Things have gone well up to now
- easier said than done
Something is more difficult to do than to talk about
- make a long story short
To summarize or get to the point
- to make matters worse
In addition to existing problems
Use it in a practice answer
Try "paper over the cracks" in a CELPIP-style Speaking or Writing task. The AI feedback tells you whether your word choice worked.