expose

See also: exposé and Exposé

English

Etymology

From Middle English exposen, from Old French exposer (“to lay open, set forth”), from Latin expōnō (“set forth”), with contamination from poser (“to lay, place”). Doublet of expone and expound (via Old French espondre (“to set forth, explain”)), from the same Latin term.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪkˈspəʊz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪkˈspoʊz/, /ɛkˈspoʊz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊz

Verb

expose (third-person singular simple present exposes, present participle exposing, simple past and past participle exposed)(transitive)

1. To reveal; to uncover; to make visible; to bring to light.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:reveal

   • 2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18:

     The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, […]. They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.

   • 2025 July 10, Jesus Mesa, “'We've Been Played': MAGA Faces Its Own Disappointment With Trump”, in Newsweek‎^[1]:

     Many supporters believed Donald Trump would finally expose government cover-ups once he returned to power. But more than six months into his new term, those much-hyped conspiracy theories have either been debunked or quietly fallen apart.

2. (photography) To subject photographic film to light, thereby recording an image.
3. To submit to an active (mostly dangerous) substance, such as radiation, a chemical, or any other stress.

   Residents were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation.

   • 2021 August 19, “Twitter User Agreement”, in Twitter‎^[2], archived from the original on 20 August 2021, 3 Content on the Services:

     You understand that by using the Services, you may be exposed to Content that might be offensive, harmful, inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate, or in some cases, postings that have been mislabeled or are otherwise deceptive.

4. (computing) To make available to other parts of a program, or to other programs.

   to expose an API

   • 2000, Robert C. Martin, More C++ Gems, page 266:

     In the OO world, the word is to hide the structure of the data, and expose only functionality. OO designers expose an object to the world in terms of the services it provides.

5. To abandon, especially an unwanted baby in the wilderness.
   • 1893, Fridtjof Nansen, Eskimo Life, page 152:

     This they do, as a rule, by exposing the child or throwing it into the sea.

Conjugation

Conjugation of expose

infinitive	(to) expose
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	expose	exposed
2nd-person singular	expose, exposest†	exposed, exposedst†
3rd-person singular	exposes, exposeth†	exposed
plural	expose
subjunctive	expose	exposed
imperative	expose	—
participles	exposing	exposed

^† Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms

• autoexpose
• coexpose
• exposable
• exposal
• exposé
• expose oneself
• exposition
• exposome
• exposure
• hyperexpose
• overexpose
• photoexpose
• preexpose
• reexpose
• underexpose

Translations

to reveal, uncover, make visible, bring to light, introduce to — see also leak,‎ reveal,‎ discover,‎ exhibit,‎ unmask,‎ uncover,‎ disclose

• Bulgarian: откривам (bg) (otkrivam), разкривам (bg) (razkrivam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 揭露 (zh) (jiēlù), 暴露 (zh) (bàolù), 露出 (zh) (lùchū), 揭發 / 揭发 (zh) (jiēfā)

• Comorian:

  Maore Comorian: uv̄enua

  Ngazidja Comorian: upvenua

• Czech: vystavit (cs), odhalit (cs) pf
• Dutch: zichtbaar maken, blootleggen (nl), exposeren (nl)
• Esperanto: elmeti
• Finnish: paljastaa (fi)
• French: exposer (fr), dénoncer (fr)
• German: aufdecken (de), offenbaren (de), entblößen (de), bloßlegen (de), enttarnen (de)
• Greek: αποκαλύπτω (el) (apokalýpto), εκθέτω (el) (ekthéto)
• Hiligaynon: abansáda
• Hindi: खोलना (hi) (kholnā), उघाड़ना (hi) (ughāṛnā)
• Indonesian: papar (id)
• Italian: esporre (it), evidenziare (it), rivelare (it), mettere in luce
• Japanese: 晒す (ja) (さらす, sarasu), 暴く (ja) (あばく, abaku), 暴露する (ばくろする, bakuro-surú)
• Kazakh: әшкерелеу (äškerelew)
• Latin: discooperio
• Lithuanian: atskleisti
• Malay: dedah (ms)
• Māori: rakorako, whakaari, hura, whakapūangiangi (to the wind), pārara, kōhure, whakatoki (to the weather), tīari
• Norwegian:

  Nynorsk: openberra, avsløra

• Old English: abarian
• Polish: odsłonić (pl), ukazać (pl)
• Portuguese: expor (pt), revelar (pt)
• Romanian: expune (ro)
• Russian: выставля́ть (ru) (vystavljátʹ), раскрыва́ть (ru) (raskryvátʹ), обнажа́ть (ru) (obnažátʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: foillsich, rùisg
• Spanish: exponer (es), develar (es), dar a conocer, sacar a la luz, poner al descubierto, poner en evidencia
• Swahili: kufunua
• Swedish: blottlägga (sv)
• Thai: เผย (th) (pə̌əi), เปิดเผย (th) (bpə̀ət-pə̌əi), เปิดโปง (th) (bpə̀ət-bpoong), แฉ (th) (chɛ̌ɛ) (colloquial)
• Turkish: açığa çıkarmak (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: كشف ایتمك (keşf etmek)

• Ukrainian: виставля́ти (vystavljáty), розкрива́ти (rozkryváty)

to uncover something so it is open to the elements

• Catalan: mostrar (ca), expondre (ca), deixar al descobert
• Finnish: paljastaa (fi), altistaa (fi)
• French: exposer (fr)
• German: aussetzen (de)
• Italian: mostrare (it), esporre (it)
• Latin: monstrō (la), expōnō (la)
• Māori: whakapūangiangi (to the wind), whakatoki
• Portuguese: expor (pt), mostrar (pt)
• Russian: раскрывать (ru) (raskryvatʹ)
• Spanish: mostrar (es), exponer (es)
• Swedish: exposera

to subject photographic film to light

• Bulgarian: експонирам (eksponiram)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 曝光 (zh) (pùguāng)

• Czech: exponovat
• Dutch: blootstellen (nl)
• Esperanto: eksponi
• Finnish: valottaa (fi)
• French: exposer (fr)
• German: belichten (de)
• Greek: εκθέτω (el) (ekthéto)
• Italian: esporre (it)
• Japanese: 露光させる (ろこうさせる, rokō-saseru)
• Māori: hura
• Polish: naświetlić (pl), eksponować (pl) impf
• Portuguese: expor (pt)
• Romanian: expune (ro)
• Russian: де́лать вы́держку (délatʹ výderžku)
• Scottish Gaelic: nochd
• Spanish: exponer (es)
• Swedish: exponera (sv)

to submit to an active substance

• Finnish: altistaa (fi)
• Māori: whakamōrea (to danger)
• Ukrainian: піддава́ти ді́ї (piddaváty díji)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} esporre (it)
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} exponere (la)

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛk.spoz/

Verb

expose

1. inflection of exposer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative