revealed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of reveal.

   The investigation revealed serious flaws in the building's design.

   His true intentions were revealed only after the deal collapsed.

   Note

   A regular -ed form doing double duty. It is the simple past (the audit revealed a gap) and also the participle used in perfects with have and passives with be (has revealed, was revealed). When God or scripture is the subject, it carries the verb's sense of making known what reason could not discover. There it shades into the theological adjective: a revealed truth is simply one that was revealed.

2. 2
   adjective

   Made known to humankind through divine revelation rather than discovered by human reason.

   Theologians distinguish revealed doctrine from conclusions reached by reason alone.

   The church treats its scriptures as revealed knowledge handed down by God.

   Note

   A theologian's term, and it works by contrast. Revealed religion stands against natural religion: knowledge given through scripture, prophecy or vision, as opposed to what reason or observation can reach unaided. It usually sits before its noun, as in revealed doctrine or revealed knowledge. It does not grade, so one truth cannot be more revealed than another. It is either revealed or it is not.

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