lay bare
idiom
: to reveal or uncover private information or feelings
He laid bare his soul.
The book is an attempt to lay bare the secrets of this very powerful political family.
Examples of lay bare in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Based ever so loosely on the true story of a British performer who stumbled into a new life as a club fixture, Cooper’s film is still about the ways that art and art-making can invigorate the soul and lay bare its dark truths.
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David Sims, The Atlantic, 9 Jan. 2026
And the activities and figures associated with his group lay bare the inconsistencies in his branding.
—Rob Picheta, CNN Money, 15 Dec. 2025
These archival treasures unfold the complex lives of the partners, who wrote and rehearsed at home, and lay bare the stresses that all four endured because there was no boundary between performance and reality.
—Helen Shaw, New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2025
The two title wins do not lay bare the deficit between the top two and their contenders, but the tennis rankings do.
—Charlie Eccleshare, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lay bare
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David Sims, The Atlantic, 9 Jan. 2026
And the activities and figures associated with his group lay bare the inconsistencies in his branding.
—Rob Picheta, CNN Money, 15 Dec. 2025
These archival treasures unfold the complex lives of the partners, who wrote and rehearsed at home, and lay bare the stresses that all four endured because there was no boundary between performance and reality.
—Helen Shaw, New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2025
The two title wins do not lay bare the deficit between the top two and their contenders, but the tennis rankings do.
—Charlie Eccleshare, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lay bare
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Cite this Entry
“Lay bare.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lay%20bare. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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