Manifestation

How to spell manifestation

13 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce manifestation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does manifestation mean?

1. nounA visible sign, form, or event in which something abstract or hidden becomes apparent.

Manifestation in a sentence

• The rash was the first clear manifestation of the allergy.

• The strike was a manifestation of years of workplace frustration.

Where does manifestation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb manifestare, meaning 'to make plain' or 'to reveal clearly', which in turn rests on the adjective manifestus, 'caught in the act' or 'plainly visible'. The most widely accepted analysis breaks manifestus into manus, meaning 'hand', combined with a root tied to festus or *-fendere, suggesting something graspable or able to be struck, hence something so obvious you could almost seize it by hand. The Latin noun manifestatio, 'a making clear', passed into Old French as manifestation before English adopted it in the late 1300s. Over time the religious and legal sense of an open showing broadened into today's meaning of any visible sign or form that an underlying thing takes. The shared manus root links it to familiar words such as 'manual' and 'manuscript', and remembering that 'mani' opening, plus the 'fest' that you can hear when you say it slowly, helps anchor the spelling.

How the word is built

• mani- (from manus: hand)
• fest (struck/seizable)
• -ation (noun of action)