divulge

divulge — verb

1. to tell secret or private information that you were trusted not to share with ot

1.動詞及物B2
釋義

to tell secret or private information that you were trusted not to share with others

例句

Minho refused to divulge the name of his contact at the newspaper.

refuse + to divulge + noun phrase

The employee was fired for divulging company pricing details to a competitor.

passive: was fired for divulging [details] to [recipient]

同義詞
  • disclose

    more neutral and less secretive in tone; often used in formal/legal contexts without implying betrayal

  • reveal

    broader, includes both secrets and non-secret facts; less emphatic about a breach of trust

  • expose

    stronger negative sense of revealing wrongdoing or scandal, usually to the public

  • leak

    implies gradual or unauthorized release, often to the media; can be done anonymously

反義詞
  • conceal

    to keep hidden deliberately; active opposite of divulging

  • withhold

    to keep back information that one could share; implies control rather than secrecy

文法句型

divulge + noun phrase

divulge + that-clause

divulge + wh-clause

用法筆記

Frequently used in negative constructions or with modal verbs (would not, could not, refuse to) to emphasize that someone is keeping a confidence. The person receiving the information is typically introduced by the preposition 'to'.

常見錯誤

❌He divulged.
✅He divulged the secret.
💡divulge is transitive and must take an object; it cannot be used alone.
❌She divulged him about the plan.
✅She divulged the plan to him.
💡the person told is an indirect object with 'to', not a direct object.