Revealing French Expression
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| Meaning | to unmask; to reveal one’s true colors, tell the truth | |
| Literally | to lift the mask | |
| Register | normal | |
| Pronunciation |  |
[leu vay leu mahsk] |
| IPA | [lə ve lə mask] | |
Usage notes: The French expression lever le masque (and its many variations*) is used figuratively, to refer to the dropping of a persona or secret identity that a person "wears" to hide their true self or bad intentions.
Par exemple …
| Il a enfin levé le masque. | He finally revealed his true colors. | |
| Appelle-moi quand tu seras prêt de lever le masque. | Call me when you’re ready to unmask yourself (to let me see who you really are). |
When talking about physically removing a literal mask, such as after a costume party, enlever is used instead.
Par exemple …
| J’ai hâte de enlever mon masque. | I can’t wait to take off my mask. | |
| Enlève ton masque, je veux te donner un bisou. | Take off your mask, I want to give you a kiss. |
* Variations
Many different verbs can be used in place of lever (click for conjugations):
- arracher le masque
- déposer le masque
- enlever le masque
- faire tomber le masque
- jeter le masque
- ôter le masque
- poser le masque
- quitter le masque
- retirer le masque
- tomber le masque
You can also replace the definite article le with the indefinite article un or a possessive adjective, depending on whether you want to say the, a, or my / your / his ….
Synonyms and related expressions
- Bas les masques ! – Down with masks!
- démasquer – to unmask someone
- se démasquer – to unmask oneself
- être démasqué – to be unmasked
- les masques tombent – the masks come off
Antonyms
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