revealing
Britishadjective
-
of significance or import
a very revealing experience
-
showing or designed to show more of the body than is usual or conventional
a revealing costume
Other Word Forms
- revealingly adverb
- revealingness noun
Explanation
Use the adjective revealing to describe disclosing something that was hidden, either literally or figuratively. If you ask people if they've ever cheated on a test, you may get revealing answers that tell you whether the person is honest or not. Revealing comes from the Latin word revelare, which literally means "unveil," and that word has its roots in re-, meaning "the opposite of," and velare meaning "to cover or veil." It is little wonder that the adjective revealing is often used to describe clothing that leaves little to the imagination. If your daughter's date comes to the door in a revealing shirt with almost every button undone, you might ask him to put on a jacket or else he'll be sure to catch cold.
Vocabulary lists containing revealing
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
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"The Dead and the Gone" Susan Beth Pfeffer, Chapters 11–14
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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.
The Soviet Union was heavily criticised for its slowness in revealing the scale of the disaster.
From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026
By revealing how flexible bacterial systems can be, the study provides deeper insight into how genes move between cells.
From Science Daily • Apr. 17, 2026
Videos posted as part of the trend typically begin with the content creator revealing a simple fact about themselves alongside a photo.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 15, 2026
The book’s characters relate their stories in discrete sections that peel back time, revealing shocking secrets and meriting re-evaluation.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
Lightning flashed again, revealing the soggy pile of ash that was all that remained of the campfire.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
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.
