exposition

See also: Exposition

English

Etymology

From Middle English exposicioun, from Old French esposicion, from Latin expositiō, from expōnere (“to put forth”). The sense meaning "exhibition" is a later semantic loan from French exposition.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛkspəˈzɪʃən/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

exposition (countable and uncountable, plural expositions)

1. The action of exposing something to something, such as skin to the sunlight.
2. (authorship) The act or process of declaring or describing something through either speech or writing; the portions and aspects of a piece of writing that exist mainly to describe the setting, characters and other non-plot elements.

   This essay has too much exposition in it.

   My reviewer said she couldn't picture the setting for my story, so I'm improving the exposition.

3. (obsolete) The act of expulsion, or being expelled, from a place.
4. An exhibition, especially of goods, artwork or cultural displays to the public.

   The first prototype was unveiled at an exposition.

5. (authorship) An essay or speech in which any topic is discussed in detail.

   I turned my research into an exposition on the traditional music of Borneo.

6. (authorship) An opening section in fiction, in which background information about the characters, events or setting is conveyed.
8. (music) The opening section of a movement in sonata form; the opening section of a fugue.
9. The abandonment of an unwanted child.

Derived terms

• exposé
• expositional
• expositionary
• sexposition

Related terms

• exposit
• expositive
• expository

Translations

action of exposing

• Bulgarian: изла́гане (bg) n (izlágane), експози́ция f (ekspozícija)
• Finnish: esittely (fi), altistaminen (fi)
• Greek: έκθεση (el) f (ékthesi)

action of putting something out to public view

• Arabic: مَعْرِض m (maʕriḍ)
• Belarusian: вы́стаўка (be) f (výstaŭka), выста́ва f (vystáva), экспазі́цыя f (ekspazícyja)
• Bulgarian: изло́жба (bg) f (izlóžba), експози́ция f (ekspozícija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 博覽會／博览会 (zh) (bólǎnhuì)

• Czech: výstava (cs) f
• Dutch: tentoonstelling (nl) f
• Esperanto: ekspozicio
• Estonian: ekspositsioon
• Finnish: esittely (fi)
• French: exposition (fr) f
• Galician: exposición (gl) f
• Georgian: გამოფენა (gamopena), ექსპოზიცია (eksṗozicia)
• German: Ausstellung (de) f, Exposition (de) f
• Greek: έκθεση (el) f (ékthesi), επίδειξη (el) f (epídeixi)
• Hindi: एक्स्पज़िशन (ekspaziśan)
• Hungarian: kiállítás (hu)
• Ido: expozo (io)
• Italian: esposizione (it) f, mostra (it) f
• Japanese: 博覧会 (ja) (はくらんかい, hakurankai)
• Korean: 박람회(博覽會) (ko) (bangnamhoe)
• Macedonian: изложба f (izložba)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: utstilling (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: utstilling (no) f

• Polish: wystawa (pl) f
• Portuguese: exposição (pt) f
• Romanian: expoziție (ro) f, expunere (ro) f
• Russian: вы́ставка (ru) f (výstavka), экспози́ция (ru) f (ekspozícija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ѝзложба f

  Roman: ìzložba f

• Slovak: výstava f
• Slovene: razstava (sl) f
• Spanish: exposición (es) f
• Swedish: utställning (sv) c
• Thai: งานแสดง (ngaan-sà-dɛɛng)
• Turkish: sergileme (tr), teşhir (tr)
• Ukrainian: ви́ставка (uk) f (výstavka), експози́ція f (ekspozýcija)
• Vietnamese: sự phơi, sự phơi bày
• Walloon: espôzucion (wa) f

action of declaring or describing

• Bengali: বয়ান (bn) (boẏan)
• Bulgarian: описание (bg) n (opisanie)
• Finnish: esittely (fi)
• Greek: έκθεση (el) f (ékthesi)
• Irish: ceartú m
• Swedish: redogörelse (sv) c
• Turkish: beyan (tr), serim (tr), yorumlama (tr)

essay or speech in which any topic is discussed in detail

• Bengali: বয়ান (bn) (boẏan)
• Bulgarian: коментар (bg) m (komentar)
• Czech: výklad (cs) m
• Finnish: esitelmä (fi)
• Greek: έκθεση (el) f (ékthesi)
• Kazakh: мазмұндама (mazmūndama)
• Macedonian: излагање n (izlaganje), изложување n (izložuvanje)
• Romanian: expunere (ro) f
• Swedish: redogörelse (sv) c, utläggning (sv) c
• Turkish: yorum (tr)

fiction: opening section

• Finnish: esittely (fi)
• German: Einführung (de) f
• Turkish: giriş (tr)

music: opening section of a fugue

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 呈示部 (chéngshìbù)

• Finnish: esittely (fi)
• Japanese: 提示部 (ていじぶ, teijibu)
• Serbo-Croatian: излагање теме, експозиција f
• Slovene: ekspozicija f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Slovak: expozícia f

See also

• explanation
• exegesis

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French esposicion, borrowed from Latin expositiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛk.spo.zi.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

exposition f (plural expositions)

1. exposition
2. exhibition
3. exposure

Further reading

• “exposition”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.