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Glite Dictionary
⬇️ To lower status 📄 To remove secrecy
to declass

to declass

6.9
To make a document no longer secret
  • verb
  • /ˌdiːˈklæs/
  • Formal
translation icon : desclasificar
  • The government decided to declass the documents related to the investigation to ensure transparency.

Examples

  • So Trump declassified the Crossfire Hurricane documents, maybe took a copy with him and then when Biden got in office, he classified them.

  • The reason they're declassifying all this stuff lately more than ever.

  • After a lengthy review, the officials announced they would declass the files that contained historical information.

  • The agency will declass certain records from the Cold War, allowing researchers access to important data.

Synonyms

to declassify
vsto declass
  • Formal
33 6.1

Remove a secret label from documents so the public can see them

is the same in meaning but is a shortened or variant written form
to unclassify
vsto declass
1 7.6

To take something out of a category so it is no longer in that group

applies specifically to removing official secrecy or security classification

Antonyms

to classify
  • Formal
283 5.5

To say information is secret so only some people can see it

How Secret

to classify
  • Formal
283 5.5
to declass
  • Formal
6.9
to release
925 1.8

Surface Forms

declass infinitive
declassified past
declassified past participle
declassing present participle
declasses third person singular

Morphology

declass = declassify (semi-transparent) = de + class

This sense is a straightforward shortening of 'declassify' with no major change in meaning.

Etymology

Declass comes from the prefix de- 'remove' and class 'category', the same idea behind classified documents, so to declass a file is to remove its security class and make it unclassified.