self-revelation

American  

[self-rev-uh-ley-shuhn, self-] / ˈsɛlfˌrɛv əˈleɪ ʃən, ˌsɛlf- /

noun

1. disclosure of one's private feelings, thoughts, etc., especially when unintentional.

---

Etymology

Origin of self-revelation

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

For a memoirist, Mr. Lemann remains ambivalent about self-revelation, eliding his professional accomplishments and any emotional upheavals along the way.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

And yet for all his ruthless self-assessment, there is very little of what the best memoirs bring: true self-revelation.

From New York Times • Nov. 12, 2020

And despite a promise of self-revelation, the author still remains, well, anonymous.

From The Guardian • Dec. 22, 2019

What’s missing from the scene is the kind of stringent self-revelation that would have filled out their backstories and rendered them as individuals, with idiosyncratic, specific, history-haunted inner lives.

From The New Yorker • Sep. 9, 2019

My mother can easily speak to a priest in a darkened confessional; can easily make an act of self-revelation using the impersonal formula of ritual contrition: ‘Bless me, Father, for I have sinned....’

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez