disclosure
Pluraldisclosures
- 1The act of revealing something that was previously secret or unknown.
The sudden disclosure of the merger plans sent the company's stock soaring.
Public disclosure of the test results prompted an immediate investigation.
Similarrevelation, release, announcement, exposure, publication
Oppositeconcealment, suppression, secrecy
Note
English built this word itself rather than borrowing it: disclose, reshaped on the pattern of closure. Jane Austen's Emma (1815) applies it to personal candor rather than public announcement: "Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure." As a mass noun it names revealing in general (the fear of disclosure). As a countable noun it names one instance (a sudden disclosure).
- 2A previously hidden fact, or set of facts, that has been made known.
The disclosure that the company had hidden losses triggered an immediate sell-off.
Investigators pieced together the full picture from a single damning disclosure.
Similarrevelation, admission, confession, leak
- 3The act of making a previously hidden fact known to another party.
The judge ordered full disclosure of all relevant documents before the hearing.
Financial regulations demand the timely disclosure of any conflict of interest.
Similardeclaration, release, reporting, revelation
Oppositeconcealment, withholding, nondisclosure
Note
Lawyers use the word for a duty as much as an act. Parties to a dispute must make relevant facts, documents and evidence available to the other side, typically before trial. Its signature collocation is full disclosure, which names the standard to be met as well as the act itself. A party may be ordered to give full disclosure, or may demand to get it.
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Origin
A purely English formation, built from "disclose" by analogy with "closure."