unmask
[uhn-mask, -mahsk]
- to strip a mask or disguise from.
- to reveal the true character of; disclose; expose.
- Military. to reveal the presence of (guns) by firing.
- to put off one's mask; appear in true nature.
Origin of unmask
masking
[mas-king, mah-sking]
- backing(def 4).
- Psychology. obscuring, partially or completely, one sensory process by another, as the dulling of the sense of taste by smoking.
Origin of masking
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for unmasking
Contemporary Examples
Really though, we would have to go back at least a decade for this to count as real “unmasking.”
Bravo’s ‘Online Dating Rituals’ Reveals American Males Are Creepy and Want SexEmily Shire
March 10, 2014
And what you know can just as well be a source of sympathy as well as a provocation to unmasking.
Luckily, unmasking perpetrators is the bedrock of the Ahndoril writing philosophy.
Historical Examples
We are in luck to get here in time enough for the unmasking.
Marjorie Dean, College SophomorePauline Lester
In the meantime, while this unmasking was taking place Frank had not been idle.
Frank Merriwell's BraveryBurt L. Standish
They were not all in masks; and there didn't seem to be any regular hour for unmasking.
A Fearful Responsibility and Other StoriesWilliam D. Howells
That once decided, the unmasking will fall in as a natural consequence.
A Bid for FortuneGuy Boothby
His unmasking of Christian morality, he says, is an event unequalled in history.
Philosophy and The Social ProblemWill Durant
masking
- the act or practice of masking
- psychol the process by which a stimulus (usually visual or auditory) is obscured by the presence of another almost simultaneous stimulus
unmask
- to remove (the mask or disguise) from (someone or oneself)
- to appear or cause to appear in true character
- (tr) military to make evident the presence of (weapons), either by firing or by the removal of camouflage, etc
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for unmasking
unmask
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
masking
(măs′kĭng)
- The concealment or the screening of one sensory process or sensation by another.
- An opaque covering used to camouflage the metal parts of a prosthesis.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.