To reconcile the different viewpoints and to enable a rational design of molecules with the observed behaviour, the concept of 'concealed antiaromaticity' is introduced here, which provides a more general framework for understanding and explaining the properties that arise from certain structural motifs. The concept accepts that many of the molecules claimed to be antiaromatic due to the presence of a formal 4n π-electron system are not truly antiaromatic. However, at the same time, it acknowledges that this does not prevent those molecules from exhibiting behaviour under certain conditions that would normally be expected for antiaromatic molecules. Quite the contrary, molecules with concealed antiaromaticity allow the desirable properties of antiaromatic molecules under the different conditions to be used without having to deal with their undesirable properties, namely the low stability of truly antiaromatic molecules.