LET ON
Dictionary entry overview: What does let on mean?
• LET ON (verb)
The verb LET ON has 1 sense:
1. make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
Familiarity information: LET ON used as a verb is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
• LET ON (verb)
Meaning:
Make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Synonyms:
disclose; divulge; let on; unwrap; reveal; let out; give away; expose; impart; discover; bring out; break
Context examples:
The auction house would not disclose the price at which the van Gogh had sold / The actress won't reveal how old she is / bring out the truth / he broke the news to her / unwrap the evidence in the murder case
Hypernyms (to "let on" is one way to...):
tell (let something be known)
Cause:
break; get around; get out (be released or become known; of news)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "let on"):
blackwash (bring (information) out of concealment)
babble; babble out; blab; blab out; let the cat out of the bag; peach; sing; spill the beans; talk; tattle (divulge confidential information or secrets)
leak (tell anonymously)
confide (reveal in private; tell confidentially)
betray; bewray (reveal unintentionally)
spring (produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly)
come out; come out of the closet; out (to state openly and publicly one's homosexuality)
out (reveal (something) about somebody's identity or lifestyle)
blow (cause to be revealed and jeopardized)
muckrake (explore and expose misconduct and scandals concerning public figures)
reveal (disclose directly or through prophets)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s something to somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
Sentence example:
They let on that there was a traffic accident
