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display

/dɪˈspleɪ//dɪˈspleɪ/·verb, noun
to put something where it can be seen, or to show a quality openly
Fig. 1 — Behind the bird there's only a drab, tight bundle, and I nearly look away from it.
01Definition

To display is to lay something open to view — to unfold it where others can see. Shops display goods, screens display data, and a person can display courage, anger, or skill without a word. The term comes through Old French from the Latin displicare, 'to unfold', and that unfolding is its heart: what was folded away is now spread out. It runs close to exhibit but feels less formal and more everyday — a peacock displays its feathers; a museum exhibits its treasures.

02In use
  • iThe shop displayed its newest products in a brightly lit window.
  • iiShe displayed a vivid talent for languages from an early age.
  • iiiThe screen displays your heart rate and pace in real time.
03Collocations
  • on display
  • display goods
  • display emotion
  • display a tendency
  • visual display

Family display (noun) · displayed (adjective)

04Relations

=show, exhibit, present, reveal, demonstrate

≠conceal, hide

05Compared
PairThe difference
display vs exhibitput where it can be seen, any setting → display; presented formally for an audience to inspect → exhibit.
06TOEFL & IELTS

Everyday and academic at once. 'On display' and 'display symptoms / emotion / a tendency' are exam-ready, and the noun is handy for IELTS Task 1 ('the display shows…'). Treat it as a slightly less formal cousin of exhibit: both mean to show, but display covers screens and shop windows, while exhibit leans toward galleries and evidence.

07Asked
What is the difference between display and exhibit?
They overlap, but exhibit is the more formal and curated — museums exhibit artefacts — while display is the everyday word for shops, screens and peacocks. The full side-by-side, with both animated scenes, is on the display vs exhibit page linked in the 'Compared' list above.
What is the difference between display and show?
Show is the most general verb for letting something be seen. Display adds arrangement and prominence — a display is deliberately set out to be looked at. You can show someone a photo casually; you display goods to attract buyers. Show tells; display presents. The extra sense in display is that someone meant it to be noticed.
What does 'on display' mean?
Placed publicly where people can see it — 'the crown jewels are on display', 'his temper was on full display'. The phrase works for objects in a case and for qualities a person can't hide. The scene above is a creature putting itself on display: a drab bundle unfolding into a fan of painted eyes, fully aware of the effect.
Is 'display' a verb or a noun?
Both, with the same spelling. The verb is the act of showing ('the museum displays Roman coins'); the noun is the thing shown or the arrangement of it ('a window display', 'a fireworks display', 'a flat-panel display'). Context and the words around it — a display, the display — mark which one you have.
What does it mean to display an emotion or quality?
To show it plainly through behaviour rather than words — display courage, display symptoms, display a tendency. Here display needs no object being physically shown; the feeling or trait is what unfolds into view. It is a precise, slightly formal alternative to 'show' that exam writing rewards: 'the patient displayed no symptoms'.
What does 'display' mean on a computer or phone?
As a verb, to put information on the screen ('the app displays your route'); as a noun, the screen itself ('a six-inch display'). Both keep the word's root sense of unfolding something into view — from the Latin displicare, 'to unfold' — now applied to pixels rather than feathers or shop goods.