Apparent

How to spell apparent

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce apparent

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does apparent mean?

1. adjectiveClearly seen or readily understood, or seeming to be true on the surface.

Apparent in a sentence

• The cause of the delay soon became apparent to everyone in the office.

• For no apparent reason, the printer stopped working halfway through the report.

Where does apparent come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb apparere, meaning 'to appear' or 'to come into view', which combined the prefix ad- ('to' or 'toward') with parere, 'to show oneself' or 'to come forth'. The present participle apparentem gave the sense of something that is showing itself, and English borrowed it through Old French aparent in the 1300s. Its first English meanings clustered around the idea of being plainly visible or clearly seen, and from there it broadened to mean 'seeming to be the case', sometimes hinting that the appearance might not match reality, as in 'apparent calm'. The same parere root surfaces in the closely related word 'appear' and in 'transparent', literally something that shows through. The single p followed by double p, then the unstressed -ent ending, is exactly where careful spellers slip, often doubling the wrong letter or writing -ant.

How the word is built

• ap- (from ad-: to, toward)
• par (from parere: to appear, come into view)
• -ent (adjective suffix)