expose Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the exposure of an impostor or a fraud
    unmasking.
    • he published an expose of the graft and corruption in city government
  2. verb expose or make accessible to some action or influence
    • Expose your students to art
    • expose the blanket to sunshine
  3. verb make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
    disclose; reveal; unwrap; bring out; let on; discover; divulge; break; let out; give away.
    • The auction house would not disclose the price at which the van Gogh had sold
    • The actress won't reveal how old she is
    • bring out the truth
    • he broke the news to her
    • unwrap the evidence in the murder case
  4. verb to show, make visible or apparent
    exhibit; display.
    • The Metropolitan Museum is exhibiting Goya's works this month
    • Why don't you show your nice legs and wear shorter skirts?
    • National leaders will have to display the highest skills of statesmanship
  5. verb remove all or part of one's clothes to show one's body
    uncover.
    • uncover your belly
    • The man exposed himself in the subway
  6. verb disclose to view as by removing a cover
    disclose.
    • The curtain rose to disclose a stunning set
  7. verb put in a dangerous, disadvantageous, or difficult position
    endanger; scupper; peril; queer.
  8. verb expose to light, of photographic film
  9. verb expose while ridiculing; especially of pretentious or false claims and ideas
    debunk.
    • The physicist debunked the psychic's claims
  10. verb abandon by leaving out in the open air
    • The infant was exposed by the teenage mother
    • After Christmas, many pets get abandoned

WordNet

Ex*pose" transitive verb
Etymology
F. exposer; pref. ex- (L. ex out)+poser to place. See Pose, v. t.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Exposed; present participle & verbal noun Exposing
Definitions
  1. To set forth; to set out to public view; to exhibit; to show; to display; as, to expose goods for sale; to expose pictures to public inspection.
    Those who seek truth only, freely expose their principles to the test, and are pleased to have them examined. Locke.
  2. To lay bare; to lay open to attack, danger, or anything objectionable; to render accessible to anything which may affect, especially detrimentally; to make liable; as, to expose one's self to the heat of the sun, or to cold, insult, danger, or ridicule; to expose an army to destruction or defeat.
    Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel. Shak.
  3. To deprive of concealment; to discover; to lay open to public inspection, or bring to public notice, as a thing that shuns publicity, something criminal, shameful, or the like; as, to expose the faults of a neighbor.
    You only expose the follies of men, without arraigning their vices. Dryden.
  4. To disclose the faults or reprehensible practices of; to lay open to general condemnation or contempt by making public the character or arts of; as, to expose a cheat, liar, or hypocrite.
Ex`po`sé" noun (Also<
  • Expose
  • Exposé
)
Etymology
F., prop.p.p. of exposer. See Expose, v. t.
Definitions
  1. A formal recital or exposition of facts; exposure, or revelation, of something which some one wished to keep concealed.

Webster 1913