Disclose

How to spell disclose

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce disclose

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does disclose mean?

1. verbTo make secret or previously unknown information known to others.

Disclose in a sentence

• The company must disclose all fees before the contract is signed.

• She refused to disclose the name of her source.

Where does disclose come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin claudere, meaning 'to shut' or 'to close', the same root that gives us 'close', 'include', and 'conclude'. In Old French this developed into desclore, formed with the prefix des- (meaning 'apart' or 'undo') attached to the verb for shutting, so the literal sense was 'to unshut' or 'open up'. English borrowed it in the 1300s, and at first it really did mean to open something physically, such as unfolding a bud or opening a door. Over time the meaning shifted from opening a physical thing to opening up information, that is, revealing something previously hidden. The modern legal and financial sense of formally revealing facts grew directly out of this idea of bringing what was shut away into the open.

How the word is built

• dis- (apart, reverse)
• close (from Latin claudere: to shut)