apparent

(ə-păr'ənt, ə-pâr'-)
adj.

1. Readily seen; visible.
2. Readily understood; clear or obvious.
3. Appearing as such but not necessarily so; seeming: an apparent advantage.

[Middle English, from Old French aparant, present participle of aparoir, to appear. See appear.]

apparently ap·par'ent·ly adv.
apparentness ap·par'ent·ness n.

SYNONYMS   apparent, clear, clear-cut, distinct, evident, manifest, obvious, patent, plain. These adjectives mean readily seen, perceived, or understood: angry for no apparent reason; a clear danger; clear-cut evidence of tampering; distinct fingerprints; evident hostility; manifest pleasure; obvious errors; patent advantages; making my meaning plain.

USAGE NOTE   Used before a noun, apparent means "seeming": For all his apparent wealth, Pat had no money to pay the rent. Used after a form of the verb be, however, apparent can mean either "seeming" (as in His virtues are only apparent) or "obvious" (as in The effects of the drought are apparent to anyone who sees the parched fields). One should take care that the intended meaning is clear from the context.

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is normally pronounced with short a (as in bat); pronunciation as in parent, though once dominant, is only occasionally heard.

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adjective

1. Readily seen, perceived, or understood: clear, clear-cut, crystal clear, distinct, evident, manifest, noticeable, observable, obvious, patent, plain, pronounced, visible. See see/not see.
2. Appearing as such but not necessarily so: external, ostensible, ostensive, outward, seeming, superficial. See surface/depth.

adj

Definition: seeming, not proven real
Antonyms: doubtful, dubious, equivocal, hidden, improbable, obscure, questionable, real, uncertain, unclear, unlikely

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

That which is clear, plain, and evident.

In the law of agency, an agent has apparent authority to represent the person, or principal, for whom he or she acts, when the principal acts in such a manner toward the agent that a reasonable person would plainly assume that the agent was acting for the principal.

IN BRIEF: Obvious; clearly seen.

It is apparent that no lifetime is long enough in which to explore the resources of a few square yards of ground. — Alice M. Coats

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describing a physical quantity, especially an association constant, dissociation constant, equilibrium constant, etc., that has been determined under particular experimental conditions and hence is not the true (i.e. thermodynamic) constant. See equilibrium constant.

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For a list of words related to apparently, see:

• Reflections and References
• Approximations and Generalizations

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See words rhyming with "apparent."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Apparent.

Common misspelling(s) of apparent

• aparent

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - åbenbar, tydelig, tilsyneladende

Nederlands (Dutch)
zichtbaar, schijnbaar

Français (French)
adj. - apparent, évident, visible, manifeste, de surface

Deutsch (German)
adj. - sichtbar, offensichtlich, anscheinend

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - φαινόμενος, φαινομενικός, προφανής, φανερός

Italiano (Italian)
evidente, apparente, ovvio, visibile, erede legittimo

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - evidente, óbvio, aparente, autêntico

idioms:

• heir apparent    herdeiro (m) legítimo (Jur.)

Русский (Russian)
явный, очевидный, различимый

idioms:

• heir apparent    неоспоримый наследник

Español (Spanish)
adj. - aparente, claro, evidente, manifiesto

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - synbar, märkbar

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
显然的, 外观上的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 顯然的, 外觀上的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 분명한, 외관상의

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 見かけの, 外見上の, 明らかな, 明白な

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) مرئي, ظاهر, واضح‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮ברור, גלוי, מדומה, שכביכול, שלכאורה‬

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