How to Use tarpaulin in a Sentence

tarpaulin

noun
  • The crew slept on cots under tarpaulins each night.
    — Adam Iscoe, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
  • Then the rain comes, slow at first, then hard enough to have the tarpaulin rolled back into place.
    — Debbi Snook, cleveland, 3 Feb. 2023
  • Most had camping chairs and some had a tarpaulin to sit under.
    — Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 13 Sep. 2022
  • Many had laid out tarpaulins and squatted on the streets outside the court.
    — Vidhi Doshi, chicagotribune.com, 26 Aug. 2017
  • Daghash’s home is a tent made of blankets, tarpaulin and pieces of cardboard.
    — Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post, 14 June 2018
  • The people of the village gathered as the sacks were laid out on a blue tarpaulin.
    — Roger Cohen Mauricio Lima, New York Times, 24 Dec. 2022
  • The tarpaulin draped over a ship propeller brings to mind dirty laundry slung over the blades of an idle fan.
    — Eren Orbey, New Yorker, 23 June 2026
  • It is made of steel, canvas, tarpaulin, timber and rope netting.
    — Georgia McCafferty, CNN, 12 July 2017
  • Tents, tarpaulins, food stalls and solar panels to charge mobile phones are laid out among rows of men bent in prayer.
    — The Economist, 7 Nov. 2019
  • Meanwhile, Addi has laid out a feast of oats on the tarpaulin under a tree for shade.
    — Cnt Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 18 Jan. 2024
  • One day my horse was much frightened at a drilling machine covered by a tarpaulin and lying on an open field.
    — Kat McGowan, Discover Magazine, 29 Feb. 2012
  • The full list of items also includes tarpaulins, tie-down kits and ground anchor systems.
    — Elizabeth Koh, miamiherald, 1 June 2017
  • Someone approached the team with a stretcher, and what appeared to be a tarpaulin bag large enough for a body.
    — Armando Ledezma, New Yorker, 30 June 2026
  • Six of the skiers huddled in a makeshift shelter constructed with tarpaulin sheets.
    — Ramon Padilla, USA Today, 19 Feb. 2026
  • The homes, funded by overseas donors, will have concrete floors, bamboo walls and tarpaulin roofs.
    — Washington Post, 2 May 2018
  • The family strung a tarpaulin across the terrace and moved upstairs.
    — Sadiq Naqvi, Washington Post, 27 June 2022
  • Women sleep under tarpaulin tents with their families on thin mats cast onto the ground.
    — Qadri Inzamam Saumya Khandelwal, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2024
  • At night in the refugee camps, with only a thin tarpaulin wall as protection, Mohammed waits for the men to come and kill him.
    — New York Times, 14 Nov. 2021
  • By the end, Tillerson was like a dead animal someone needed to pull a tarpaulin over.
    — New York Times, 17 Aug. 2022
  • The tarpaulin serving as a roof on Younis’ tent is now torn, allowing water in.
    — Abeer Salman, CNN, 29 Nov. 2024
  • Most live in bamboo and tarpaulin shelters perched on hilly slopes that are vulnerable to strong winds, rain, and landslides.
    — Angus Watson, CNN, 14 May 2023
  • Many live in bamboo and tarpaulin shelters perched on hilly slopes that are vulnerable to strong winds, rain, and landslides.
    — Helen Regan, CNN, 12 May 2023
  • Women and children sleep below deck, watched over by a midwife, while the men sleep on the open deck, covered only with tarpaulin.
    — CNN, 12 June 2018
  • Across the lawns, over the carcass of the old parliament, there is a gathering of tents and tarpaulins that have been there almost as long.
    — Maggie Knight-Williams, refinery29.com, 22 Jan. 2024
  • The Rebel Kitchen is housed in four gazebos customised with various pieces of tarpaulin and lots of gaffa tape.
    — The Economist, 18 Oct. 2019
  • Spokesman Arifin Hadi said people need clean water and tarpaulins most of all.
    — Andi Jatmiko, Fox News, 9 Aug. 2018
  • As wind continues to pound the camp, a wooden pole delicately holds up the tarpaulin keeping him dry.
    — Freddie Clayton, NBC news, 11 Jan. 2026
  • Gathered under tarpaulins baking in the sun, the women counsel one another and learn skills such as how to build a kitchen stove from clay.
    — Rodney Muhumuza, The Seattle Times, 9 June 2017
  • Most days, Nyine’s side of the family wasn’t in their blue tarpaulin home but at the Bigo clinic for wound checks.
    — Nick Turse, Teen Vogue, 14 Nov. 2018
  • The walls are hardwood but covered in thick beige tarpaulin that winds down like a tent but over glass windows, reminding guests that this is indeed a safari lodge.
    — Rooksana Hossenally, Forbes, 6 May 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tarpaulin.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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