show one's true colors
show one's true colors verb: to reveal how one really is, as opposed to how one has been portrayed or after having been deceptively and deliberately misleading.
Verb
show one's true colors (third-person singular simple present shows one's true colors, present participle showing one's true colors, simple past showed one's true colors, past participle shown one's true colors or (US also) showed one's true colors)
- To reveal how one really is, as opposed to how one has been portrayed or after having been deceptively and deliberately misleading.
- Synonyms:
- break cover, show one's true stripes
show one's true colors meaning in Malay and Thai
show one's true colors in Malay
- to reveal how one really is
- tunjuk belang
show one's true colors in Thai
- to reveal how one really is
- ออกลาย ɔ̀ɔk-laai, เผยธาตุแท้ pə̌əi-tâat-tɛ́ɛ, แสดงกำพืด sà-dɛɛng-gam-pʉ̂ʉt
Synonyms of show one's true colors
Forms of show one's true colors
| third-person singular present | shows one's true colors |
|---|---|
| present participle | showing one's true colors |
| past | showed one's true colors |
| past participle | shown one's true colors |
| past participle US also | showed one's true colors |
| alternative form | show one's true colours |
Origin of show one's true colors
Nautical origin. The word colors (or colours) refers to the flag or ensign which every ship is obliged to fly at sea. It was once a common deception of pirates to “sail under false colours” and fly a friendly flag in order to get within close range of potential targets (other ships) without exciting suspicion. Only when the pirate ship reached close quarters would it unfurl its true colours.
Questions about show one's true colors
- What does show one's true colors mean?
- Show one's true colors means to reveal how one really is, as opposed to how one has been portrayed or after having been deceptively and deliberately misleading.
- What is show one's true colors in Malay?
- Show one's true colors in Malay is tunjuk belang. See Show one's true colors meaning in Malay.
- What part of speech is show one's true colors?
- Show one's true colors is a verb.
- What is the past tense of show one's true colors?
- The past tense of show one's true colors is showed one's true colors.
Words near show one's true colors in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: show one's true colors (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-show one's true colors.ogg.
Cite this entry: “show one's true colors.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/show_one%27s_true_colors. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.