appear
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- appeare (obsolete)
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English apperen, aperen, borrowed from Old French aparoir (French apparoir, apparaître), from Latin appāreō (“I appear”), from ad (“to”) + pāreō (“I come forth, I become visible”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-s- (“watch, see”), s-present of *peh₂- (“protect”).
PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əˈpɪə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /əˈpɪɹ/, [əˈpʰɪɹ]
Audio (US) (file)
- (Scotland) IPA(key): /əˈpiːɹ/
- Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
VerbEdit
appear (third-person singular simple present appears, present participle appearing, simple past and past participle appeared)
- (intransitive) To come or be in sight; to be in view; to become visible.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 1:9:
- And God […] said, Let […] the dry land appear.
- 2012 March-April, Jeremy Bernstein, “A Palette of Particles”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 146:
- There were also particles no one had predicted that just appeared. Five of them […, i]n order of increasing modernity, […] are the neutrino, the pi meson, the antiproton, the quark and the Higgs boson.
- (intransitive) To come before the public.
- A great writer appeared at that time.
- 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Affair at the Novelty Theatre[1]:
- Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.
- (intransitive) To stand in presence of some authority, tribunal, or superior person, to answer a charge, plead a cause, etc.; to present oneself as a party or advocate before a court, or as a person to be tried.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 5:10:
- We must all appear before the judgment seat.
- 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 12, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
- One ruffian escaped because no prosecutor dared to appear.
- (intransitive) To become visible to the apprehension of the mind; to be known as a subject of observation or comprehension, or as a thing proved; to be obvious or manifest.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 John 3:2:
- It doth not yet appear what we shall be.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- Of their vain contest appeared no end.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess[2]:
- ‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?
- 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist:
- Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, […] .
- (intransitive, copulative) To seem; to have a certain semblance; to look.
- He appeared quite happy with the result.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 6:16:
- They disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess[3]:
- Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.
- (transitive) To bring into view.
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
- [Angelo] is yet a devil / His filth within being cast, he would appear / A pond as deep as hell.
Usage notesEdit
- In the senses be obvious and seem, appear is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
- Particularly in the senses be obvious, seem, and bring into view, appear is a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs
SynonymsEdit
- (to become visible): emerge; see also Thesaurus:appear
- (to seem): look
AntonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
to appear, to seem — see look
to appear — see seem
to come or be in sight; to be in view; to become visible
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to come before the public
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to stand in presence of some authority, tribunal, or superior person, to answer a charge, plead a cause, or the like
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to become visible to the apprehension of the mind
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to seem; to have a certain semblance; to look
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.