Unclosing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of not fully shutting an object or space remains open without achieving a complete closure
2. The state of being left not fully shut, allowing partial access or view
3. The condition where an opening is not entirely closed off, letting some exposure or passage

Etymology: Unclosing is simply the present participle and gerund of "unclose," so its story is really the story of that verb. The verb is built from the reversive prefix "un-" attached to "close," and it was inherited into English from Middle English "unclosen," which carried the same sense of undoing a closing. The prefix "un-" has been part of English since Old English, where it reversed or negated the action of a verb, so "unclose" is a native formation rather than a borrowing from Latin or French. The "close" in the word traces back to a related root, but the more useful point is that "unclose" is essentially the opposite of "close" in its verb sense: where closing seals something shut, unclosing opens it again. The prefix does the work, and the base verb supplies the meaning of shutting, so the two parts together describe the reversal of a shutting action in a single word.

Synonyms: opening, revealing

Antonyms: closing, shutting