exhibit
Americanverb (used with object)
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exhibits,
present (3rd person singular)
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exhibited,
past participle, past
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exhibiting
present participle
-
to offer or expose to view; present for inspection.
to exhibit the latest models of cars.
- Synonyms:
- demonstrate, show
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to manifest or display.
to exhibit anger; to exhibit interest.
- Antonyms:
- conceal
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to place on show.
to exhibit paintings.
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to make manifest; explain.
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Law. to submit (a document, object, etc.) in evidence in a court of law.
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Medicine/Medical Obsolete. to administer (something) as a remedy.
verb (used without object)
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exhibits,
present (3rd person singular)
-
exhibited,
past participle, past
-
exhibiting
present participle
noun
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exhibits
plural
verb
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(also intr) to display (something) to the public for interest or instruction
this artist exhibits all over the world
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to manifest; display; show
the child exhibited signs of distress
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law to produce (a document or object) in court to serve as evidence
noun
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an object or collection exhibited to the public
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law a document or object produced in court and referred to or identified by a witness in giving evidence
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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exhibitantnoun
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exhibiternoun
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exhibitornoun
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preexhibitnoun
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reexhibitverb (used with object)
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exhibitableadjective
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exhibitoryadjective
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self-exhibitedadjective
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unexhibitableadjective
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unexhibitedadjective
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well-exhibitedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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exhibitsimple
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exhibitssimple
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have exhibitedperfect
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has exhibitedperfect
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am exhibitingprogressive
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are exhibitingprogressive
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is exhibitingprogressive
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have been exhibitingperfect progressive
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has been exhibitingperfect progressive
Past
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exhibitedsimple
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had exhibitedperfect
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was exhibitingprogressive
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were exhibitingprogressive
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had been exhibitingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of exhibit
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English exhibiten “to show,” from Latin exhibitus, past participle of exhibēre, from ex- ex- 1 + -hibēre (combining form of habēre “to have”); cf. habit 1
Explanation
An exhibit is an item that is shown off for the public, such as a painting on display at a gallery or a historical document shown under glass at a museum. The main thing to remember about an exhibit is that it refers to something presented formally and in a public setting. For example, if you put an action figure on a side table in your apartment and your friends come by and notice it, well, it’s just an action figure on a side table. Put that same action figure on a pedestal in a fancy gallery, arrange it just so, and voilà! It’s an exhibit. People may even look it over and discuss its meaning in hushed tones. Students of law — or people who watch a lot of TV — will know that when used in a legal context, the word exhibit can also refer to an item presented as evidence in a legal court.
Vocabulary lists containing exhibit
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List 10
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
As a SoCal native from a Mexican American family, Santana-Sayles has told me, “I would be dishonored” if the exhibit failed in its mission to capture the breadth of the L.A. population.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
“Frederic Church: Global Artist,” the compact but impressive exhibit now on view in the pristine galleries nestled within Olana, the magnificent home he created in Hudson, N.Y., affirms that assessment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Researchers ultimately reached a consensus that bulk ruthenium dioxide does not exhibit magnetism.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston had a “Hallyu” exhibit with a light sick display, and yours was part of it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
Our backyard was an ode to nesting and flight—part bird zoo and part art exhibit.
From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King
As part of this cultural diplomatic exchange, the UK is lending France one of the British Museum's prize exhibits - treasures from the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo burial.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
Those patterns can reveal whether a material is magnetic and, if so, what kind of magnetism it exhibits.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026
Watching her now back then, young and fresh faced, confident, funny and exquisitely talented, she exhibits the naturalness that would serve her well throughout the years, but one might say, closer to the surface.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Along the undercroft corridor, a series of modest but well-conceived exhibits tells the story of the Memorial’s construction—highlighted by a display of boots, shovels and other detritus recovered from the soggy floors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
The Weinberg-Salam theory exhibits a property known as spontaneous symmetry breaking.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
Millennials and Gen Xers also exhibited the same behaviors to a much lesser extent.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
In his initial livestream denying the allegations, he not only exhibited an odd demeanor, but he also falsely insisted that every accusation could be “traced back to a single source, my former wife.”
From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2026
She takes us back to the 1850s and 1860s, capturing the thrill that viewers felt when a major painting was publicly exhibited for the first time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Corpse flowers have been a staple of the Huntington since 1999, when the garden exhibited its first corpse flower.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Phineas Gage's mother said her son exhibited himself here at P. T. Barnum's American Museum on Broadway in New York City Barnum was the gaudiest showman and greatest hoaxer of his age.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
Often star soloists are employed, each exhibiting ego and leaving the conductor as ringmaster.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
The swift signs of aging he is exhibiting simply makes it hard to imagine.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026
Says Raich: “The earnings revision trends are not exhibiting the pattern we saw in 2000. We are still in the ‘getting better’ phase.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
In his book, he treats empathy in a largely colloquial sense, “as both a way of exhibiting sympathy towards someone, as well as a means of putting myself in your shoes.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
The old man cackled happily, digging six copper ring-coins out of his skimpy sash and exhibiting them to Ranofer.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
