unveiled

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of unveil.

   The committee unveiled its plans for the downtown park.

   A bronze memorial was unveiled in the town square on Sunday.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs here. It is the plain past (the committee unveiled its plans) and the participle behind passives and perfects (was unveiled, has unveiled). The verb mostly takes an object, so the passive is very common: memorials and plans are unveiled by someone. Do not confuse it with the adjective for an uncovered face, which names a state rather than an act. An unveiled face simply has no veil on it.

2. 2
   adjective

   Without a veil, whether not wearing one or not hidden behind one.

   An unveiled face was unusual at such a formal ceremony.

   She stood unveiled before the congregation, contrary to local custom.

   Similaruncovered, bare

   Oppositeveiled, covered

   Note

   There are no degrees here: a person is either unveiled or not, so the word does not combine naturally with more or very. It belongs where veiling is a matter of custom or choice. Chris Hallinan and Steven J. Jackson's Social and Cultural Diversity in a Sporting World (2008) uses it this way, setting unveiled Muslims beside women who decide not to veil.

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