expose
verb
Simple meaning
To subject photographic film to light thereby recording an image.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihkspohzSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪksˈpoʊz
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To show, make visible or apparent
transitive
To reveal, uncover, make visible, bring to light, introduce (to).
transitive
To subject photographic film to light thereby recording an image.
Expose to light, of photographic film
To submit to an active (mostly dangerous) substance like an allergen, ozone, nicotine, solvent, or to any other stress, in order to test the reaction, resistance, etc.
transitive
To abandon, especially an unwanted baby in the wilderness.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To subject photographic film to light thereby recording an image.
Used this way, expose is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use expose
- “The infant was exposed by the teenage mother.”verb
- “Expose your students to art.”verb
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Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.