Visibility

How to spell visibility

10 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce visibility

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does visibility mean?

1. nounThe distance one can clearly see, or the degree to which something can be seen.
2. nounThe degree to which a person, brand, or issue is noticed or prominent.

Visibility in a sentence

• Thick fog reduced visibility on the motorway to a few metres.

• The campaign gave the charity far greater visibility among younger donors.

• The pilot delayed take-off until visibility improved at the airport.

• A front-page feature boosted the author's visibility overnight.

Where does visibility come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb videre, meaning 'to see', which produced the adjective visibilis, 'able to be seen'. From that came the late Latin noun visibilitas, describing the quality or state of being visible. English borrowed the term through Old French in the 1400s, at first in a fairly literal sense of something being perceptible to the eye. Over the centuries it broadened to cover figurative clearness, such as the public prominence of a person or brand, and the practical sense used in weather and driving reports today. The same videre root sits inside many familiar relatives like 'vision', 'video', 'evident' and 'supervise', which is a useful reminder that the spelling keeps the 'vis' base intact rather than slipping to 'viz'.

How the word is built

• vis (from videre: to see)
• -ible (able to be)
• -ity (noun of state)