visible

English

Etymology

From Middle English visible, from Old French visible, from Late Latin visibilis (“that may be seen”), from Latin videre (“to see”), past participle visus; see vision.

Pronunciation

• enPR: vĭz'ə-bəl, IPA^(key): /ˈvɪzəb(ə)l/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪbəl

Adjective

visible (comparative more visible, superlative most visible)

1. Able to be seen.

   When the sun rises, the world becomes visible.

   • 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Cameleon”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A. Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], OCLC 152706203, 3rd book, page 133:

     It cannot be denied it [the chameleon] is (if not the moſt of any) a very abſtemious animall, and ſuch as by reaſon of its frigidity, paucity of bloud, and latitancy in the winter (about which time the obſervations are often made) will long ſubſist without a viſible ſuſtentation.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:

     Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited.

   • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 206-7:

     Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close […] above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them. Many insects probably use this strategy, which is a close analogy to crypsis in the visible world—camouflage and other methods for blending into one’s visual background.

   Synonyms: apparent, seeable

   Antonyms: hidden, invisible

Derived terms

• visible light
• visible minority
• visible spectrum
• visible speech

 

Related terms

• evidence
• video
• visage
• visibility
• vision
• visionary
• visual
• visualization
• visualize

 

Translations

able to be seen

• Afrikaans: sigbaar
• Albanian: dukshëm
• Arabic: مَنْظُور‎ (manẓūr)
• Armenian: տեսանելի (hy) (tesaneli)
• Asturian: visible
• Belarusian: ба́чны (be) m (báčny)
• Breton: hewel (br)
• Bulgarian: ви́дим (bg) m (vídim)
• Catalan: visible (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 看得見 (zh), 看得见 (zh) (kàn de jiàn), 可看見的, 可看见的 (kě kànjiàn de)

• Czech: viditelný (cs) m
• Danish: synlig (da)
• Dutch: zichtbaar (nl), zichtbare (nl)
• Esperanto: videbla (eo)
• Finnish: näkyvä (fi)
• French: visible (fr)

  Old French: voiable

• Galician: visible (gl)
• Georgian: შესამჩნევი (šesamčnevi), დასანახი (dasanaxi), ხედვადი (xedvadi)
• German: sichtbar (de)
• Greek: ορατός (el) (oratós), φανερός (el) (fanerós)

  Ancient: ὁρατός (horatós), φανερός (phanerós)

• Haitian Creole: vizib
• Hebrew: נראה‎ (nir'eh)
• Hungarian: látható (hu)
• Irish: infheicthe, sofheicthe, le feiceáil, feicseanach
• Italian: visibile (it)

• Japanese: 見える (ja) (みえる, mieru), 目に見える (めにみえる, me ni mieru), 顕在する (ja) (けんざいする, kenzai suru)
• Korean: 보이는 (boineun)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دیار‎ (ku) (dyar)

• Latin: spectābilis, visibilis
• Latvian: redzams
• Macedonian: видлив (vidliv)
• Manx: so-akin
• Maori: ari
• Norwegian: synlig (no)
• Occitan: visible (oc)
• Old English: ġesewenlīċ
• Old French: veable
• Persian: پیدا‎ (fa) (peydâ), هویدا‎ (fa) (hoveydâ), ویدا‎ (fa) (vidâ)
• Plautdietsch: sechtboa
• Polish: widoczny (pl), widzialny (pl)
• Portuguese: visível (pt)
• Romanian: vizibil (ro) m or n
• Russian: ви́димый (ru) (vídimyj)
• Sanskrit: दृश्य (sa) (dṛśya), दृष्ट (sa) (dṛṣṭa)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вѝдљив, ви̑дан, уо̀чљив

  Roman: vìdljiv (sh), vȋdan (sh), uòčljiv (sh)

• Spanish: visible (es)
• Swedish: synlig (sv)
• Tagalog: tahaw, nakikita
• Ukrainian: ви́димий (výdymyj), ви́дний (výdnyj)
• Vietnamese: nhìn thấy được, khả kiến (vi)
• Walloon: veyåve (wa) m or f

Further reading

• “visible” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• visible in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

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Asturian

Adjective

visible (epicene, plural visibles)

1. visible (able to be seen)

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin vīsibilis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /viˈzi.blə/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /biˈzi.blə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /viˈzi.ble/

Adjective

visible (masculine and feminine plural visibles)

1. visible

   Antonym: invisible

Derived terms

• visiblement

Related terms

• visibilitat

Further reading

• “visible” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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French

Etymology

Latin visibilis

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vi.zibl/

• audio

  (file)

Adjective

visible (plural visibles)

1. visible

Derived terms

• partie visible de l'iceberg
• visiblement

Further reading

• “visible”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Galician

Alternative forms

• visíbel

Adjective

visible m or f (plural visibles)

1. visible

Antonyms

• invisible

Derived terms

• visiblemente

Related terms

• visibilidade

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Old French

Etymology

Late 12th century, borrowed from Latin visibilis.

Adjective

visible m (oblique and nominative feminine singular visible)

1. visible (able to be seen)

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Spanish

Etymology

From Late Latin vīsibilis (“that may be seen”), from Latin vīsus, perfect passive participle of videō (“to see”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biˈsible/, [biˈsi.β̞le]

Adjective

visible (plural visibles)

1. visible

   Antonym: invisible

Derived terms

• visiblemente

Related terms

• ver
• visibilidad
• visibilizar
• visión
• vista

 

Further reading

• “visible” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.