nondisclosure
Americannoun
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failure to disclose or share information when asked, expected, or legally required to do so.
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Business. the act, especially as obligated by contract, of refraining from disclosing or revealing sensitive or competitive information.
Explanation
Nondisclosure is not sharing important information. If someone sells their house and doesn't tell the buyer that the basement floods every times it rains, that's nondisclosure. Legally, nondisclosure means failing to reveal information that the law says you have to disclose. In a court case, attorneys must tell the opposing side basic details about the witnesses they plan to call. If they don't, they are guilty of nondisclosure. This word often appears in the phrase "nondisclosure agreement," which is a legal contract that guarantees the signer will keep certain information confidential — in other words, they promise not to disclose it.
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.
Teachers signed nondisclosure agreements as part of their employment contracts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
Ares Chief Executive Michael Arougheti said the firm’s investment pipeline is accelerating, with signed nondisclosure agreements up around 35%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
According to a lawsuit filed by Ganieva against Black, which was later dismissed, he prepared a nondisclosure agreement in 2015 to secure her silence.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
Page Six linked the duo to discreet wedding planner Mark Seed, and multiple outlets report that the couple required guests to sign a strict nondisclosure agreement before receiving any confidential information.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026
It was a nondisclosure form stipulating that father and son would not tell anyone what had gone on inside the prison.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
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.
