exposition

plural expositions

1. countableuncountableThe action of exposing something to something, such as skin to the sunlight.
2. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe act or process of declaring or describing something through either speech or writing, in nonfiction or in fiction; the portions and aspects of a piece of writing that exist mainly to describe or explain a set of things (such as, in fiction, the setting, characters and other non-plot elements).

   This essay has too much exposition in it.

   2 more examples

   My reviewer said she couldn't picture the setting for my story, so I'm improving the exposition.

   The articles published were all by professed Marxists, but in the first few years readers were given sound information on contemporary philosophy outside Russia, for example, that of Husserl, and the general level of exposition was a great deal higher than in the standard philosophical writings of later years.

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume III: The Breakdown, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozkład (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 64

3. countableobsoleteuncountableThe act of expulsion, or being expelled, from a place.
4. countableuncountableAn exhibition, especially of goods, artwork or cultural displays to the public.

   The first prototype was unveiled at an exposition.

5. countableuncountableauthorshipAn essay or speech in which any topic is discussed in detail.

   I turned my research into an exposition on the traditional music of Borneo.

6. countableuncountablehuman sciencesAn opening section in fiction, in which background information about the characters, events or setting is conveyed.
7. countableuncountableentertainmentThe opening section of a movement in sonata form; the opening section of a fugue.
8. countableuncountableThe abandonment of an unwanted child.