unmask
Americanverb (used with object)
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unmasks,
present (3rd person singular)
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unmasked,
past participle, past
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unmasking
present participle
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to strip a mask or disguise from.
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to reveal the true character of; disclose; expose.
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Military. to reveal the presence of (guns) by firing.
verb (used without object)
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unmasks,
present (3rd person singular)
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unmasked,
past participle, past
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unmasking
present participle
verb
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to remove (the mask or disguise) from (someone or oneself)
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to appear or cause to appear in true character
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(tr) military to make evident the presence of (weapons), either by firing or by the removal of camouflage, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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unmasksimple
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unmaskssimple
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have unmaskedperfect
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has unmaskedperfect
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am unmaskingprogressive
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are unmaskingprogressive
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is unmaskingprogressive
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have been unmaskingperfect progressive
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has been unmaskingperfect progressive
Past
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unmaskedsimple
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had unmaskedperfect
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was unmaskingprogressive
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were unmaskingprogressive
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had been unmaskingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of unmask
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:
The Times reporting enraged Trump, and the administration tried to unmask the paper’s sources before ultimately backing down.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
The Wall Street Journal identified 10 people—nine Americans and one Canadian—who pushed back against DHS’s attempts to unmask them through the two types of subpoenas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Rarely will you encounter a surefire "tell" that will unmask an AI fake.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
“Seeing the carve-out, I was immediately really surprised,” said Bridget Lavender, staff attorney at the State Democracy Research Initiative, the nation’s leading expert on the myriad legal efforts to unmask ICE across the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2026
In the 1920s, during the Teapot Dome scandal, William had helped unmask the corruption in President Harding’s cabinet.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
Meghan Kobza’s “The Masquerade” unmasks the festivities of 18th-century London, where the commercial “middling sort” acquired the numbers and money to emulate the private entertainments of kings and aristocrats.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
The vaccine acts like a ‘wanted poster’ which unmasks cancer cells which are adept at hiding in the body, only to resurface later.
From BBC ● May 30, 2024
“But that’s the thing with LADA: It unmasks itself over time.”
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 17, 2024
What begins as a bucket list comedy featuring four old men soon unmasks itself as a heist film.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2020
He makes Pandarus say a word too much; Cressida unmasks him on the spot, obliges him to acknowledge that in asking less he desired more for his friend, and now she is blushing and indignant.
From A Literary History of the English People From the Origins to the Renaissance by Jean Jules Jusserand
The gang was unmasked after another friend of the men took Child B to London.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
And while several TikTok users have come forward claiming they created it, the true author as of yet remains unmasked.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
Whether the medication caused it, accelerated a subclinical condition, or simply unmasked something already there is nearly impossible to determine.
From Slate ● Mar. 22, 2026
Once Egg is unmasked, we come to understand why he’s so drawn to this enormous man whose gentle spirit permeates Claffey’s faultless performance.
From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2026
She had been unmasked as a CIA operative, thereby rendering her useless as an undercover agent in the Soviet Union.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
Banksy’s unmasking may affect the logistics behind his art projects as well.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
After federal immigration officers shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, social media users called for the unmasking of the agents responsible.
From Slate ● Jan. 28, 2026
The series takes in a wide range of topics, from unmasking Jack the Ripper, to the day The Beatles came to Hull.
From BBC ● Dec. 25, 2024
They fared much better unmasking Goldfish: While Thicke guessed Hilary Duff and Jeong said it was Nicole Scherzinger, both Ora and McCarthy-Wahlberg were correct that the star of Broadway’s “Gigi” was their winner.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2024
To the Crown, the speech revealed the ANC’s true and secret intent, unmasking the ANC’s public pretense of nonviolence.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
