A masking agent is a reagent

Reagent

A reagent is a "substance or compound that is added to a system in order to bring about a chemical reaction, or added to see if a reaction occurs." Although the terms reactant and reagent are often used interchangeably, a reactant is less specifically a "substance that is consumed in the course of...

 used in chemical analysis

Analytical chemistry

Analytical chemistry is the study of the separation, identification, and quantification of the chemical components of natural and artificial materials. Qualitative analysis gives an indication of the identity of the chemical species in the sample and quantitative analysis determines the amount of...

 which reacts with chemical species

Chemical species

Chemical species are atoms, molecules, molecular fragments, ions, etc., being subjected to a chemical process or to a measurement. Generally, a chemical species can be defined as an ensemble of chemically identical molecular entities that can explore the same set of molecular energy levels on a...

 that may interfere in the analysis.

In sports a masking agent is used to hide or prevent detection of a banned substance or illegal drug like anabolic steroids or stimulants. Diuretics are the simplest form of masking agent and work by enhancing water loss via urine excretion and thus diluting the urine, which results in lower levels of the banned substance being excreted from the body making it more difficult for laboratories to detect.