reveal

English

Etymology

From Middle English revēlen, from Old French reveler, from Latin revēlāre (“to reveal, uncover”), from re- (“back, again”) + vēlāre (“to cover”), from vēlum (“veil”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈviːl/, /ɹəˈviːl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈvil/, /ɹəˈvil/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈviːl/, [ɹɪˈvɪil]

  • Audio (AU)

    (file)

• Hyphenation: re‧veal
• Rhymes: -iːl

Noun

reveal (plural reveals)

1. The outer side of a window or door frame.

   Synonyms: jamb, revel

   • 2010, Carter B. Horsley, The Upper East Side Book:

     The building has a one-story rusticated limestone base and a canopied entrance with a doorman beneath an attractive, rusticated limestone window reveal on the second floor and a very impressive and ornate limestone window reveal on the third floor flanked by female figures[1].

2. (cinematography, narratology, comedy, usually informal) A revelation; an uncovering of what was hidden in the scene or story.

   The comedian had been telling us about his sleep being disturbed by noise. Then came the reveal: he was sleeping on a bed in a department store.

   • 2002, Blain Brown, Cinematography‎^[2], →ISBN:

     A simple dolly or crane move can be used for an effective reveal. A subject fills the frame, then with a move, something else is revealed.

   • 2017 February 23, Katie Rife, “The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[3]:

     Once you find out what’s going on—the girl is a “hungry,” this film’s term for zombies—it’s still interesting enough, if not quite as powerful. That’s basically what you’re in for with this British postapocalyptic survival horror tale, which starts off strong but dilutes its impact with every consecutive reveal.

   • 2019, Douglas Rushkoff, “Survival of the Richest”, in Extinction Rebellion, editor, This Is Not A Drill, London: Penguin, →ISBN:

     Even Westworld—based on a science-fiction novel where robots run amok—ended its second season with the ultimate reveal: human beings are simpler and more predictable than the artificial intelligences we create.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:reveal.

Derived terms

• face reveal
• gender reveal
• sex reveal

 

See also

• dénouement
• plot twist

Verb

reveal (third-person singular simple present reveals, present participle revealing, simple past and past participle revealed)

1. (transitive) To uncover; to show and display that which was hidden.

   Synonyms: uncover, unfold, unveil; see also Thesaurus:reveal

   • c. 1625, Edmund Waller, Of the Danger His Majesty (being Prince) Escaped in the Road at St Andero

     Light was the wound, the prince's care unknown, / She might not, would not, yet reveal her own.

   • 2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[4], volume 188, number 26, page 18:

     The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets.

2. (transitive) To communicate that which could not be known or discovered without divine or supernatural instruction.

   Synonyms: disclose, divulge; see also Thesaurus:divulge

Derived terms

• revealed religion
• revelation

Translations

to uncover

• Arabic: كَشَفَ (kašafa)
• Azerbaijani: üzə çıxarmaq
• Bulgarian: разкривам (bg) (razkrivam)
• Catalan: revelar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 透露 (zh) (tòulù), 顯示／显示 (zh) (xiǎnshì)

• Czech: odhalit (cs)
• Danish: afsløre
• Dutch: onthullen (nl), zich ontpoppen
• Egyptian: (prj ẖr)
• Esperanto: malkaŝi
• Estonian: paljastama
• Finnish: paljastaa (fi)
• French: révéler (fr)
• Galician: revelar (gl)
• German: enthüllen (de)
• Greek: αποκαλύπτω (el) (apokalýpto)

  Ancient: φαίνω (phaínō), ἐκφαίνω (ekphaínō), μηνύω (mēnúō)

• Hebrew: גילה (gilá), חשף (he) (khasáf)
• Hungarian: felfed (hu)
• Icelandic: afhjúpa
• Ido: revelar (io)
• Irish: foilsigh

  Old Irish: foilsigidir

• Italian: rivelare (it), gettare la maschera, uscire allo scoperto, mostrare se stesso, svelare (it)
• Japanese: 現す (ja) (あらわす, arawasu), 表す (ja) (あらわす, arawasu), 表わす (ja) (あらわす, arawasu)
• Korean: 나타내다 (ko) (natanaeda), 드러내다 (ko) (deureonaeda)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دەرخستن (derxistin)

• Latin: acclārō, exhibeō (la), patefaciō, revēlō
• Macedonian: открива (otkriva)
• Malay: dedah (ms)
• Ngazidja Comorian: upvenua
• Norwegian: avsløre
• Old Church Slavonic: авити (aviti)
• Old English: ætīewan
• Persian: مکشوف ساختن (makšuf sâxtan)
• Polish: odkrywać (pl) impf, odkryć (pl) pf, odsłaniać (pl) impf, odsłonić (pl) impf, ujawniać (pl) impf, ujawnić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: revelar (pt)
• Russian: выявля́ть (ru) impf (vyjavljátʹ), раскрыва́ть (ru) impf (raskryvátʹ), пока́зывать (ru) impf (pokázyvatʹ)
• Scots: kithe
• Serbo-Croatian: открити, otkriti (sh)
• Spanish: revelar (es), propalar (es)
• Swahili: -toboa, -dhihirisha (sw)
• Swedish: uppenbara (sv)
• Telugu: బయటపెట్టు (te) (bayaṭapeṭṭu), వెల్లడించు (te) (vellaḍiñcu)
• Turkish: açığa vurmak (tr)
• Ugaritic: 𐎁𐎙𐎊 (bġy)
• Ukrainian: розкривати (rozkryvaty), виявляти (uk) (vyjavljaty), показувати (uk) (pokazuvaty), з'ясовувати (zʺjasovuvaty)
• Welsh: datguddio (cy)
• Yiddish: אַנטפּלעקן (antplekn)

to communicate that which could not be known or discovered without divine or supernatural instruction

• Arabic: أَوْحَى (ʔawḥā), أَنْزَلَ (ʔanzala) (literally “to send down”), نَزَّلَ (nazzala) (literally “to send down”)
• Azerbaijani: nazil etmək
• Catalan: divulgar (ca)
• French: révéler (fr), laisser voir (fr)
• Galician: revelar (gl)
• German: offenbaren (de)
• Italian: rivelare (it)
• Latin: dēclārō, ēnūntiō
• Ngazidja Comorian: uɓulia, upvenulia
• Plautdietsch: openboaren
• Portuguese: divulgar (pt)
• Spanish: revelar (es)
• Swahili: kufunulia
• Vietnamese: mặc khải
• Welsh: datguddio (cy)

Anagrams

• Leaver, laveer, leaver, vealer