Jump To:

• expose
  expose

  verb (used with object)

  to lay open to danger, attack, harm, etc..
• exposé
  exposé

  noun

  a public exposure or revelation, as of something discreditable.

expose

¹ American  

[ik-spohz] / ɪkˈspoʊz /

verb (used with object)

• exposes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• exposed,
  past participle,  past
• exposing
  present participle

1. to lay open to danger, attack, harm, etc..

   to expose soldiers to gunfire;

   to expose one's character to attack.

   Synonyms:

   jeopardize, imperil, endanger, subject

2. to lay open to something specified.

   to expose oneself to the influence of bad companions.

   Antonyms:

   shield, protect

3. to uncover or bare to the air, cold, etc..

   to expose one's head to the rain.

4. to present to view; exhibit; display.

   The storekeeper exposed his wares.

5. to make known, disclose, or reveal (intentions, secrets, etc.).

   Synonyms:

   betray, unveil, uncover

   Antonyms:

   hide, conceal

6. to reveal or unmask (a crime, fraud, impostor, etc.).

   to expose a swindler.

7. to hold up to public reprehension or ridicule (fault, folly, a foolish act or person, etc.).

8. to desert in an unsheltered or open place; abandon, as a child.

9. to subject, as to the action of something.

   to expose a photographic plate to light.

---

idioms

1. expose oneself, to exhibit one's body, especially one's genitals, publicly in an immodest or exhibitionistic manner.

exposé ² American  

[ek-spoh-zey] / ˌɛk spoʊˈzeɪ /

noun

1. a public exposure or revelation, as of something discreditable.

   Certain cheap magazines make a fortune out of sensational exposés.

---

expose ¹ British  

/ ɪkˈspəʊz /

verb

1. to display for viewing; exhibit

2. to bring to public notice; disclose; reveal

   to expose the facts

3. to divulge the identity of; unmask

4. (foll by to) to make subject or susceptible (to attack, criticism, etc)

5. to abandon (a child, animal, etc) in the open to die

6. (foll by to) to introduce (to) or acquaint (with)

   he was exposed to the classics at an early age

7. photog to subject (a photographic film or plate) to light, X-rays, or some other type of actinic radiation

8. RC Church to exhibit (the consecrated Eucharistic Host or a relic) for public veneration

9. to display one's sexual organs in public

---

exposé ² British  

/ ɛksˈpəʊzeɪ /

noun

1. the act or an instance of bringing a scandal, crime, etc, to public notice

2. an article, book, or statement that discloses a scandal, crime, etc

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• exposability
  noun
• exposal
  noun
• exposer
  noun
• exposable
  adjective
• self-exposing
  adjective
• unexposable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• exposing
  present
• exposed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• expose
  simple
• exposes
  simple
• have exposed
  perfect
• has exposed
  perfect
• am exposing
  progressive
• are exposing
  progressive
• is exposing
  progressive
• have been exposing
  perfect progressive
• has been exposing
  perfect progressive

Past

• exposed
  simple
• had exposed
  perfect
• was exposing
  progressive
• were exposing
  progressive
• had been exposing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will expose
  simple
• will have exposed
  perfect
• will be exposing
  progressive
• will have been exposing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of expose¹

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English exposen, from Old French exposer, equivalent to ex- ex- ¹ + poser “to put” ( see pose ¹), replacing Latin expōnere “to put out, expose, set forth in words”; see expound

Origin of exposé²

First recorded in 1795–1805; from French, noun use of past participle of exposer expose

Explanation

To expose means to uncover or allow to be in the open air. If you take off your coat and expose your bare arms to the terrible cold, your tattoos might freeze off. (Note: We don’t actually know if this is physically possible.) When you pronounce expose as it’s spelled, it can mean to leave out in the air, to put in peril (when you expose someone to danger), or to uncover. All of those examples are actions. However, when you pronounce it as though there is a French accent on the final "e," ex-poh-ZAY, it means the unmasking or exposure of something hidden (and usually bad or fraudulent), as when you watch an expose on 60 Minutes about the evils of frozen orange juice or some other toxic substance.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

expose exposé exposes exposed exposing

These cases expose a difficult tension at the heart of surrogacy.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

"The individuals implicated in these case studies are working scientists. We do not assert that they intended harm, and identifying them or their labs could expose them to harm," the report said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

“It was important for us to expose them to as many different things as we could,” Cindy says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Systems producing high-yield fusion expose weapons parts to intense heat, radiation and pressure nearly synonymous with a nuclear blast—hotter than the sun at more than 100 million degrees Celsius—without any explosions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

She did not want to expose her ineptitude by asking among the nurses or porters.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

The other is a powerful exposé on the safety breaches that have caused deadly crashes and accidents on Boeing airplanes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

FBI Director Kash Patel filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic on Monday, claiming the magazine’s recent exposé on his time as agency director was a malicious “hit piece.”

From Salon ● Apr. 20, 2026

What this exposé casts a light upon is a much less visible element.

From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026

Yet that’s all Redzepi has done since the damning New York Times exposé.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2026

An exposé of Spiritualism appeared in the October 21, 1888, issue of the New York World.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

That exposes investors to “open-ended” wildfire risk, and there’s no support currently to revisit that “critical deficiency,” the BMO analysts said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026

United States, what a person knowingly exposes to the public generally is not protected by the Fourth Amendment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

The exercise exposes “tremendous possibilities for misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, distortion,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

That retreat exposes a larger area of the biologically productive ice edge, where particle formation can occur.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 2026

But the inside of a square is forever mysterious, unless some terrible accident or autopsy breaches the sides and exposes the interior parts.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Instead of simply falling on the football, Bailey ran in circles and left it exposed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

Anyone who rode the same train or bus as the individual, or was at the same station on the same day, may have been exposed to measles, according to the statement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

In controlled laboratory experiments, the chemical produced 95.7 percent mortality when termites had a choice between treated and untreated wood, and about 99 percent mortality when they were continuously exposed to treated wood.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026

Companies exposed to AI and data centers should benefit, while those reliant on PCs and smartphones could face pressure from higher memory costs, he adds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

The 100 buildings occupied the same floodplain; in the event of flood, the ground floors of all of them were equally exposed.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

If the system works as expected, it could open a new approach to electron microscopy in which researchers gain more information while exposing sensitive samples to fewer electrons.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026

His mission — exposing the hidden lives around us — never changed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

They may have sought to avoid exposing or reopening painful memories.

From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026

But unless your club is extraordinarily broad-minded, you might cause considerable consternation by exposing fellow bookworms to Mr. Warren-Smith’s gleeful, demented diversions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

“I am not going back again. I am not exposing that man to any more pain.”

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse