1
Contact with an influence
Being subjected to a physical substance, environmental condition, or source of risk.
Example
Repeated exposure to sunlight caused the pigment to fade.
exposure
/ɪkˈspəʊʒə/ · ik-SPOH-zhuhnoun
Contact with, experience of, or lack of protection from someone or something.
Use exposure for contact with an influence, substance, environment, idea, or audience—especially when that contact produces an effect.
What exposure Really Means
The word becomes easier to use when its closely related senses are separated and compared.
2
Experience of ideas
Contact with languages, cultures, methods, or information that can shape knowledge and perception.
Example
Early exposure to several languages can shape sound perception.
3
Public attention
The state of being presented to or noticed by a wider audience.
Example
The exhibition gave emerging artists valuable public exposure.
Use exposure Naturally
Notice how the surrounding noun or clause reveals the exact shade of meaning.
Early exposure to several languages can shape sound perception.
Prolonged exposure to moisture weakened the paper fibres.
The documentary brought the local project wider exposure.
Precision Matters
Exposure overlaps with several common words, but each carries a different emphasis.
exposure
vs.Often implies that the encounter has a measurable or developmental effect.
contact
Simply means touching, meeting, or communicating with something.
exposure
vs.May be passive or unintended, as with radiation or pollution.
experience
Broadly means personally encountering or undergoing an event.
exposure
vs.Names the contact or lack of protection itself.
vulnerability
Names susceptibility to being harmed by that contact.
exposure
vs.Can mean audience attention but also includes physical and educational contact.
publicity
Specifically concerns public notice or media attention.
Test exposure in Context
The fabric repeatedly came into contact with the light that caused the fading.
1
The conservators found that repeated ___ to ultraviolet light had broken down the dye molecules, gradually bleaching the fabric.