English Explanatory Dictionary

obvious

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Easily discovered, seen, or understood; self-explanatory.

Pronunciation

/ˈɑb.vi.əs/ /ˈɑ.vi.əs/ /ˈɒ.vɪəs/ /ˈɒb.vɪəs/ /ˈɒv.jəs/ en-us-obvious.ogg

Word forms

obvious more obvious most obvious

Etymology

16th century, from Latin obvius (“being in the way so as to meet, meeting, easy to access, at hand, ready, obvious”) + -ous, from ob- (“before”) + via (“way”).

Synonyms

apparent arrant undoubted glaring bait blatant clear clear as a bell clear as day clear cut conspicuous crystal clear cut and dried decided elucidate evident eyely intuitive manifest notable noticeable obvious open-and-shut ostensible palpable patent plain plain as a haystack plain as a pikestaff plain as day plain as Dunstable highway plain as porridge plain as print plain as Salisbury plain as the nose on one's face prima facie res ipsa loquitur splendent straightforward undissembled

Antonyms

clear as mud inconspicuous inevident nonevident muddied muddled non-obvious nonobvious opaque subtle unclear unobvious unevident

Related words

obviate obviously

Derived words

Captain Obvious master of the obvious non-obvious nonobvious obvi obviosity obvious by inspection obviously obviousness overobvious semiobvious state the obvious unobvious
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