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Glite Dictionary
to laid bare

to laid bare

8 4.7
Make something clear and open for everyone to see
  • phrasal verb
  • /leɪd bɛr/
translation icon : desnudar
  • Her testimony laid bare the challenges faced by victims of discrimination, making their struggles clear.
  • laid bare the crisis

You know, the last two years have really laid bare all of these issues and parents have had a front row seat.

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Examples

  • A crisis in 1996 laid bare the realities for the new imperium.

    Academic text (2001)

  • At the same time, this disease has laid bare gross inequities in our healthcare system.

    Harvard University

  • All your deeds laid bare.

    Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

  • All that biology and shame laid bare for the cruel public eye.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The Berlin Blockade also laid bare the weakness of the U.S. military position in Europe.

    Academic text (2013)

  • This week we've seen laid bare the extent of the culture of mistreatment in the NHS in Wales.

  • The report laid bare what amounts to a major chink in the Islamic Republic's nuclear armor.

    Academic text (2011)

  • The situation in Bucharest laid bare the underlying damage done to the United States' stature during the Bush era.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Few social thinkers have so expertly laid bare the pressure on society of modernity as German sociologist Ulrich Beck.

    Academic text (2011)

  • The documentary laid bare the truth behind the scandal, revealing all the hidden details.

Synonyms

naked
vsto laid bare
30 3.7

Not hidden and shown openly and clearly

is about complete exposure rather than plain emotional directness
unveiled
vsto laid bare
4.2

Shown to the public after being kept secret

is fully exposed and completely open to view

Antonyms

concealed
5 3.7

Hidden so people cannot see it

How Revealed

to laid bare
8 4.7
exposed
1.8
disclosed
3.6

Surface Forms

laid bare infinitive
laid bare past
laid bare past participle
laying bare present participle
lays bare third person singular

Morphology

laid + bare

The meaning 'exposed or revealed completely' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'laid' (the past participle of 'lay', meaning to put or place) with 'bare' (exposed). The pattern 'lay/laid bare' literally means to make something bare or uncovered and is a straightforward compositional causative construction that a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer.

Etymology

The phrase laid bare comes from the idea of laid meaning 'put down' and bare meaning 'without cover'. Imagine lifting a cloth off a table or object so you can see every part. That's why it now means 'exposed' or 'revealed completely'.