Divulges

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Makes known information that was previously kept hidden or confidential
2. Discloses facts or details that were intended to remain private or unknown
3. Shares or exposes information that was secret or not meant to be revealed

Etymology: "Divulges" is the third-person singular form of "divulge," so the history belongs to the verb itself. The core idea is literal: Latin "dīvulgāre" combined "dī-," meaning "widely" or "apart," with "vulgāre," "to make common or known," which comes from "vulgus," the common people. To divulge was therefore to spread something among the crowd, making a secret common property. The word came into English through Middle English "divulgen," which took its Latin base and added the verb-forming ending "-en." Its meaning has stayed remarkably close to that picture of publicity. Where Latin spoke of announcing or publishing, English narrowed the sense to revealing what was meant to stay hidden, so the verb now usually carries a faint sense of betrayal.

Synonyms: reveals, discloses, unveils, leaks, confides

Antonyms: conceals, hides, suppresses, withholds, secretes