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revelation

rev·e·la·tion/ˌɹɛv.əˈleɪ.ʃən/noun

revelation is a noun meaning “The act of revealing or disclosing” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled R-E-V-E-L-A-T-I-O-N and has 4 syllables (rev·e·la·tion), and it appears 9.1 times per million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of revelation is revelations.

What does revelation mean?

noun

  1. 1

    The act of revealing or disclosing.

    The revelation of the culprits' identities was cathartic for the populace.

  2. 2

    Something that is revealed.

  3. 3

    Something dramatically disclosed.

    This invention was a revelation for farmers throughout the region, who immediately adopted it.

  4. 4

    A manifestation of divine truth.

  5. 5

    Something that turns out to be a great success.

    This invention was a revelation for farming throughout the region, where it doubled crop yields.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce revelation?

  • US /ˌɹɛv.əˈleɪ.ʃən/
  • Australia /ˌɹev.əˈlæɪ.ʃən/

Revelation has 4 syllables, split rev·e·la·tion in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-revelation.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of revelation

  • revelations plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is revelation?

Revelation appears 9.1 times per million words in written English, the 7,553rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Revelation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrévélation (the act of revealing or disclosing)
GermanEnthüllung (the act of revealing or disclosing), Offenbarung, Erkenntnis (something dramatically disclosed)
Portugueserevelação (the act of revealing or disclosing)
Spanishrevelación, develamiento (the act of revealing or disclosing)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does revelation come from?

From Middle English revelacioun, from Old French revelacion, from Latin revēlātiō (“disclosure”), from revēlō (“to disclose”), re (“again”) + vēlō (“to cover”); by surface analysis, revelate + -ion.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).