demasking

Verb

demask (third-person singular simple present demasks, present participle demasking, simple past and past participle demasked)

1. (transitive) To clear etchant and maskant from (a part being chemically etched or milled).
   • The part is etched at a predetermined rate, then rinsed, demasked, and a final rinse is given.1958, John I. Thompson and Company, ARDC Production Design Handbook, pages 20-2
2. (broadly) To remove any masking materials that have been added to protect an area.
   • The first sequence is to mask, paint, bake, then demask; the second sequence is to mask, paint, demask, then bake.1986, Donatas Satas, Plastics Finishing and Decoration, page 144
3. To reveal (something that was masked or hidden); to expose; to unmask.
   • When it was learned that the antigen is heatstable, attempts were made to "demask" it in the fresh mucosa by boiling.1946, Journal of Immunology, page 134
4. (more specifically) To overcome ideological preconceptions and labels.
   • Marxists have always attempted to demask earlier legitimations of power as ideology by interpreting them as expressions of class interest.1980, Revue internationale de philosophie - Issues 131-134, page 219
5. To make salient or conspicuous; to draw attention to or improve the perception of.
   • They wished to demask hidden metaphysics, to demask the false pretenses of sentences purportively descriptive but de facto metaphysical or evaluative.1968, Gerard Radnitzky, Contemporary Schools of Metascience, page 114