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exhibit

/ɪɡˈzɪbɪt//ɪɡˈzɪbɪt/·verb, noun
to show something publicly, or to display a quality or behaviour
Fig. 1 — A pedestal pushes up into view with a single object set on its top, and a cone of light opens above it like a switch thrown.
01Definition

To exhibit is to hold something out to be seen. In a gallery, artists exhibit their work; in a courtroom, an item entered as evidence is an exhibit. But the verb has a quieter, more academic life: a patient exhibits symptoms, a metal exhibits odd behaviour under heat, a child exhibits early signs of talent. Here exhibit means to display a quality plainly enough to be observed and recorded. The Latin exhibere meant 'to hold out', and the word still implies showing rather than concealing.

02In use
  • iThe museum will exhibit a collection of rare manuscripts next spring.
  • iiUnder stress, the alloy exhibits a subtle change in colour.
  • iiiSeveral patients exhibited the same symptoms within days of one another.
03Collocations
  • exhibit symptoms
  • exhibit behaviour
  • exhibit signs of
  • put on exhibit
  • exhibit a tendency

Family exhibition (noun) · exhibitor (noun) · exhibit (noun)

04Relations

=display, show, demonstrate, present, manifest

≠conceal, hide

05Compared
PairThe difference
exhibit vs displayput where it can be seen, any setting → display; presented formally for an audience to inspect → exhibit.
exhibit vs inhibitshows or displays openly → exhibit; holds back or restrains → inhibit.
06TOEFL & IELTS

In TOEFL lectures, materials and organisms 'exhibit' properties — a more formal alternative to 'show' that examiners reward. Lock in 'exhibit symptoms / signs of / behaviour'. Remember the two nouns: a museum exhibit (a thing on display) and a legal exhibit (evidence). It sits close to display but reads more formal and clinical.

07Asked
Is it 'exhibit symptoms' or 'display symptoms'?
Exhibit is the standard, more clinical choice — 'the patient exhibited symptoms of the flu' — and the same holds for signs, behaviour and traits: materials exhibit properties, children exhibit early signs of talent. Display works but reads a shade less formal. The full register ladder, with both animated scenes, is on the display vs exhibit page linked in the 'Compared' list above.
What is the difference between exhibit and display?
They overlap, but exhibit is the more formal and curated: you display goods in a shop window, and exhibit symptoms, behaviour or a property under study. 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 an exhibit and an exhibition?
An exhibition is the whole event — a themed show filling a gallery. An exhibit is usually one item within it, or, in American English, the whole display too ('a museum exhibit'). British English tends to reserve exhibition for the event and exhibit for the single piece; American English blurs them. Court usage adds a third: an exhibit is a piece of evidence.
What is an exhibit in court?
A physical item or document formally entered as evidence in a legal case — a weapon, a contract, a photograph. They are labelled in sequence, which is why 'Exhibit A' has become shorthand for a first, clinching piece of proof. The word keeps its root sense of holding something out to be seen, here for the court's inspection.
What does it mean to exhibit behaviour or signs of something?
To show a quality plainly enough for it to be observed and recorded — 'the sample exhibited unusual conductivity', 'he exhibited no remorse'. This is the word's quiet academic life, a precise, formal alternative to 'show'. The scene above is the sense in miniature: an object on a lit pedestal, turning to offer every side, keeping nothing hidden.
Is exhibit a noun or a verb?
Both. The verb is the act of showing ('galleries exhibit new work'); the noun is the thing shown ('a fascinating exhibit') or the evidence in court. The stress does not shift between them — it stays ig-ZIB-it either way — which sets exhibit apart from noun/verb pairs like export that do change stress.