appear

English

Alternative forms

• appeare (obsolete)

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈpɪə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈpɪɹ/,

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• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /əˈpiːɹ/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Verb

appear (third-person singular simple present appears, present participle appearing, simple past and past participle appeared)

1. (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.

2. (intransitive) To come before the public.

   A great writer appeared at that time.

   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

     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.

3. (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, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     One ruffian escaped because no prosecutor dared to appear.

4. (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: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     ‘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, […] .

5. (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: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     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.

6. (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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     [Angelo] is yet a devil / His filth within being cast, he would appear / A pond as deep as hell.

Usage notes

• 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

Synonyms

• (to become visible): emerge; see also Thesaurus:appear
• (to seem): look

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "to become visible"): disappear, vanish

Derived terms

Related terms

• appearance
• apparent
• appearer

Translations