English Explanatory Dictionary

appearance

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The act of appearing or coming into sight; the act of becoming visible to the eye.
  2. A thing seen; a phenomenon; an apparition.
  3. The way something looks; personal presence
  4. Apparent likeness; the way which something or someone appears to others.
  5. That which is not substance, essence, hypostasis; the outward reality as opposed to the underlying reality
  6. The act of appearing in a particular place, or in society, a company, or any proceedings; a coming before the public in a particular character.
  7. An instance of someone coming into a court of law to be part of a trial, lawsuit or other proceeding, either in person or represented by an attorney or such like; a court appearance
  8. Chiefly used by nurses: the act of defecation by a patient.

Pronunciation

/əˈpɪə.ɹəns/ /əˈpiɹ.əns/ ə-pîrʹəns en-us-appearance.ogg

Word forms

appearance appearances appearaunce

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French apparence, from Latin apparentia, from appareo. Morphologically appear + -ance. Doublet of apparence and apparency. Displaced native Old English hīew (“the way something looks or seems”) and ætīewednes (“act of appearing or coming into view”).

Synonyms

debut arrival manifestation spectacle apparition phenomenon presence aspect mien make face semblance show pretense façade facade air figure look manner

Antonyms

non-appearance nonappearance

Related words

apparent appear

Derived words

abrupt appearance appearanced appearance money coappearance court appearance disappearance keep up appearances make an appearance misappearance plate appearance put in an appearance reappearance save appearances to all appearance

Translations

Bulgarian: явя́ване Catalan: compareixença Chinese Mandarin: 出庭 Dutch: comparitie Finnish: saapuminen Finnish: ilmestyminen Finnish: näyttäytyminen French: comparution Middle French: comparution Greek: εμφάνιση Greek: προσέλευση Hindi: पेशी Indonesian: komparisi Irish: láithreas Italian: comparizione Italian: comparsa Japanese: 出廷 Polish: stawiennictwo Portuguese: comparecimento Romanian: înfățișare (la judecătorie) Russian: я́вка Sicilian: cumparizziuni Sicilian: cumparsa Spanish: aparición Spanish: comparecencia Ukrainian: я́вка
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