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Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Adjective 1.3.1 Usage notes 1.3.2 Synonyms 1.3.3 Translations 1.3.4 Derived terms 1.3.5 Related terms 1.4 References

[ English

[ Etymology

From French apparent, in turn from Latin apparens/-entis, present participle of appareo.

[ Pronunciation

IPA: WEAE //

•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

[ Adjective

apparent (comparative more apparent, superlative most apparent)

1. Capable of being seen, or easily seen; open to view; visible to the eye; within sight or view.
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IV,

     […] Hesperus, that led / The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon, / Rising in clouded majesty, at length / Apparent queen unveiled her peerless light, / And o’er the dark her silver mantle threw.

2. Clear or manifest to the understanding; plain; evident; obvious; known; palpable; indubitable.
   • c. 1595–6, Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King John, Act IV, Scene 2,

     Salisbury: It is apparent foul-play; and ’tis shame / That greatness should so grossly offer it: / So thrive it in your game! and so, farewell.

3. Appearing to the eye or mind (distinguished from, but not necessarily opposed to, true or real); seeming.
   • 1785, Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, Essay II (“Of the Powers we have by means of our External Senses”), Chapter XIX (“Of Matter and of Space”),

     What Berkeley calls visible magnitude was by astronomers called apparent magnitude.

   • 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second,

     To live on terms of civility, and even of apparent friendship.

   • 1911, Encyclopædia Britannica, “Aberration”,

     This apparent motion is due to the finite velocity of light, and the progressive motion of the observer with the earth, as it performs its yearly course about the sun.

[ Usage notes

• The word apparent has two common uses that are almost in opposition. One means roughly “clear; clearly true”, and serves to make a statement more decisive:

  It was apparent that no one knew the answer. (=No one knew the answer, and it showed.)

  The other is roughly “seeming; to all appearances”, and serves to make a statement less decisive:

  The apparent source of the hubbub was a stray kitten. (=There was a stray kitten, and it seemed to be the source of the hubbub.)

  The same ambivalence occurs with the derived adverb apparently, which usually means “seemingly” but can also mean “clearly”, especially when it is modified by another adverb, such as quite.

[ Synonyms

• visible; distinct; plain; obvious; clear; certain; evident; manifest; indubitable; notorious.

[ Translations

Visible

Finnish: näkyvä fi(fi), silminnähtävä fi(fi) German: offensichtlich de(de)

Hungarian: látható hu(hu)

Clear

Finnish: ilmeinen fi(fi), selvä fi(fi) German: offensichtlich de(de)

Hungarian: nyilvánvaló hu(hu)

Seeming

Finnish: näennäinen fi(fi) German: offenbar de(de)

Hungarian: látszólagos hu(hu)

[ Derived terms

• apparency
• apparent horizon
• apparent time
• apparently
• apparentness
• heir apparent

[ Related terms

• apparition
• appear
• appearance

[ References

• “apparent” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.