di ‧ vulge /daɪˈvʌldʒ, də-/ BrE AmE verb [transitive] formal
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: Latin ; Origin: divulgare 'to make widely known to everyone' , from vulgus 'the common people' ]
to give someone information that should be secret SYN reveal
divulge information/secrets/details etc (to somebody)
It is not company policy to divulge personal details of employees.
divulge that
Clare divulged that she was recovering from a nervous breakdown.
divulge what/where etc
The Pentagon refused to divulge what type of plane it was.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ reveal to let someone know about something that is secret or has not been known until now:
Doctors are not allowed to reveal confidential information.
|
It was revealed that he had smoked marijuana at college.
▪ tell to talk about something to someone, so that they know about it:
Don’t tell anyone about this just yet.
|
Shall I tell you a secret?
▪ disclose formal to publicly reveal something such as a fact or a name that has been kept secret:
The terms of the agreement have not yet been disclosed.
|
The agent did not disclose that there had been a violent crime in the house.
▪ divulge //daɪˈvʌldʒ, də-// formal to reveal important or personal information which was previously secret or unknown:
The bank has refused to divulge its plans.
|
I’m afraid I cannot divulge what was said to me.
▪ make something public to tell people about important information, especially after it has been kept secret:
Apparently they were engaged for some time before making it public.
|
The government has agreed that sources of financing should in future be made public.
▪ leak to deliberately give secret information to a newspaper, television company etc, when a government or other organization wants to keep it secret:
The contents of the email were leaked to the press.
|
A man was charged today with leaking official secrets.
▪ give something away ( also spill the beans informal ) to tell someone something that you want to keep secret:
He was careful not to give away any trade secrets.
|
I’m not going to give away how much I paid for it!
▪ let slip informal to accidentally tell someone about something:
He let slip that he was envious of his older brother.