What does disclosing mean?
Disclosing is the present participle and gerund of the verb disclose, meaning to make known information that was previously private, secret, or hidden. It typically implies deliberate revelation, often in formal or official contexts: companies disclose financial results, governments disclose classified documents, and individuals disclose conflicts of interest on legal forms. The word carries a tone of transparency and accountability, and in legal and regulatory settings it often denotes an obligation rather than a choice — failing to disclose required information can carry serious consequences. It contrasts with concealing or withholding, its natural opposites. Derived from the Latin dis- (apart) and claudere (to close or shut), the word literally suggests opening what has been closed. Disclosing is most at home in journalism, law, finance, and medicine, where the controlled release of information matters, but it also appears in everyday speech whenever someone shares something once kept quiet.
To make previously secret or private information known, especially officially or deliberately; to reveal or uncover.
"By disclosing her sources, the journalist ended her career."
Frequently used with direct objects like information, details, documents, or identity; common in passive voice in legal and corporate writing.
Gerund form referring to the act or process of making information known.
"Disclosing the defect earlier would have saved the company millions."
Used as a gerund/noun phrase, often as the subject of a sentence discussing obligations or consequences.
Every time you sign a nondisclosure agreement, you're promising NOT to do the very thing this word describes — and 'disclose' comes from Latin claudere, the same root as 'claustrophobia' and 'cloister': to open what was shut.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of disclosing
Disclosing derives from the Old French desclos-, stem of descrir/desclure, from Latin dis- (apart, undoing) plus claudere (to close), so the original sense was to unfasten or open up what was shut. English adopted the verb disclose in the late Middle Ages, around the fourteenth to fifteenth century, first meaning simply to uncover or lay bare, before narrowing toward the modern sense of revealing information. The same Latin root claudere produced words such as clause, cloister, claustrophobia, seclude, and conclude, all built around the idea of closing or shutting.
Related word forms
How disclosing is actually used
Register is neutral-to-formal; common in legal, financial, journalistic, and medical contexts. Often appears in passive constructions ('information was disclosed'). In legal usage, 'disclosing' frequently carries a connotation of obligation — something one is required to reveal rather than choosing to.
Easily confused with disclosing
"Enclosing" means surrounding something or including it inside an envelope or container, while "disclosing" means revealing previously hidden information.