expose
verb (used with object)
to lay open to danger, attack, harm, etc..
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expose
1 American
[ik-spohz]
/ ɪkˈspoʊz /
verb (used with object)
-
exposes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
exposed,
past participle, past
-
exposing
present participle
-
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
-
to lay open to something specified.
to expose oneself to the influence of bad companions.
-
to uncover or bare to the air, cold, etc..
to expose one's head to the rain.
-
to present to view; exhibit; display.
The storekeeper exposed his wares.
-
to make known, disclose, or reveal (intentions, secrets, etc.).
-
to reveal or unmask (a crime, fraud, impostor, etc.).
to expose a swindler.
-
to hold up to public reprehension or ridicule (fault, folly, a foolish act or person, etc.).
-
to desert in an unsheltered or open place; abandon, as a child.
-
to subject, as to the action of something.
to expose a photographic plate to light.
idioms
exposé
2
American
[ek-spoh-zey]
/ ˌɛk spoʊˈzeɪ /
noun
expose
1
British
/ ɪkˈspəʊz /
verb
-
to display for viewing; exhibit
-
to bring to public notice; disclose; reveal
to expose the facts
-
to divulge the identity of; unmask
-
(foll by to) to make subject or susceptible (to attack, criticism, etc)
-
to abandon (a child, animal, etc) in the open to die
-
(foll by to) to introduce (to) or acquaint (with)
he was exposed to the classics at an early age
-
photog to subject (a photographic film or plate) to light, X-rays, or some other type of actinic radiation
-
RC Church to exhibit (the consecrated Eucharistic Host or a relic) for public veneration
-
to display one's sexual organs in public
exposé
2
British
/ ɛksˈpəʊzeɪ /
noun
-
the act or an instance of bringing a scandal, crime, etc, to public notice
-
an article, book, or statement that discloses a scandal, crime, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
exposabilitynoun
-
exposalnoun
-
exposernoun
-
exposableadjective
-
self-exposingadjective
-
unexposableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
exposesimple
-
exposessimple
-
have exposedperfect
-
has exposedperfect
-
am exposingprogressive
-
are exposingprogressive
-
is exposingprogressive
-
have been exposingperfect progressive
-
has been exposingperfect progressive
Past
-
exposedsimple
-
had exposedperfect
-
was exposingprogressive
-
were exposingprogressive
-
had been exposingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing expose
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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:
To speak of trauma is not only to recount an event; it is also to expose fear, helplessness, and loss of control.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 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
The cycle has repeated: an exam goes wrong, students protest, a committee is appointed and reforms are proposed - only for another crisis to expose the same weaknesses.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
Refusing such an order could expose Tesla to major fines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
I have had a life of sorrow, I have been poor and ill, but I consider it my duty, a sacred thing, a holy mission to expose it.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
I didn’t discover Steinem’s “I was a Playboy Bunny” exposé until I was in college.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
Whereas the European gothic, he concludes, was “an enlightened attack on a debased ruling class or entrenched superstition,” its American version emerged as “a Calvinist exposé of natural human corruption.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
The Atlantic’s recent exposé of Kash Patel is full of alarming allegations.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026
It’s this exposé of societal absurdity and Meursault’s atheistic refusal to play along with pacifying notions of sin and redemption, that makes“The Stranger” a pinnacle of confrontational literature.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026
The story ran across the country, “Kate Fox Jencken … intends to co-operate with her sister—Margaretta Fox Kane—in her proposed exposé of the fraudulent methods of so-called spiritualism.”
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Increased European spending in Greenland exposes one thing that the U.S.—despite Trump’s threats and offers to buy the island—has yet to provide: cash.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
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
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
Suppose a citizen leaks information that exposes government wrongdoing, but breaks the law in doing so.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
Prison bosses later faced formal censure proceedings after inmates and staff were exposed to dangerous levels of the naturally occurring radioactive gas.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
The strike resulted in the first U.S. deaths since an April ceasefire, and exposed the difficulty of protecting U.S. forces even at a heavily defended installation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
But that wasn’t the case, and those exposed are now at elevated risks of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, not to mention cancer.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026
There is a sense of interruption throughout where the familiar is made slightly strange, and the unfinished is left intentionally exposed, giving the collections a setting that shifts with each new iteration.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
They all look over, and I feel exposed.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
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
They are typically produced by exposing large animals to snake venom and then collecting the antibodies those animals generate.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026
The press makes mistakes, but its public role in exposing shady behavior is essential.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
When Muller first tried exposing flies to X-rays, he killed them all.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
