Apparently

How to spell apparently

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce apparently

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does apparently mean?

1. adverbAccording to what one has heard or what seems to be the case, though not certainly known.

Apparently in a sentence

• Apparently the meeting was cancelled, but nobody told the whole team.

• The flight was delayed because, apparently, the crew arrived late.

Where does apparently come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb apparere, meaning 'to appear' or 'to become visible', which was formed from ad- ('to' or 'toward') and parere ('to come forth' or 'be visible'). From the present participle apparentem came the adjective 'apparent', meaning 'clearly seen' or 'evident', which English took in during the 1300s by way of Old French aparant. The adverb 'apparently' was built on top of that adjective with the native English suffix -ly. Interestingly, the meaning has drifted: where 'apparently' once stressed something plainly evident, it now often signals the opposite, hedging a claim as merely reported rather than confirmed ('apparently he resigned'). The spelling trap lives in the unstressed middle: the doubled p of ap-, the single r, and the -ent ending (not -ant) that writers routinely second-guess.

How the word is built

• ap- (from ad-, 'to')
• par (from parere, 'come forth, be visible')
• -ent (adjective suffix)
• -ly (adverb suffix)