appear

[ uh-peer ]

verb (used without object)

1. to come into sight; become visible:

   A man suddenly appeared in the doorway.

   Synonyms: arise, emerge

2. to have the appearance of being; seem; look:

   to appear wise.

3. to be obvious or easily perceived; be clear or made clear by evidence:

   It appears to me that you are right.

4. to come or be placed before the public; be published:

   Her biography appeared last year.

5. to perform publicly, as in a play, dance, etc.:

   He appeared as the king in the play.

6. to attend or be present, especially to arrive late or stay but a short time:

   He appeared at the party but left quickly.

7. to come into being; be created, invented, or developed:

   Speech appears in the child's first or second year.

8. Law. to come formally, especially as a party or counsel, to a proceeding before a tribunal, authority, etc.

appear

/ əˈpɪə /

verb

1. to come into sight or view
2. copula; may take an infinitive to seem or look

   the evidence appears to support you

3. to be plain or clear, as after further evidence, etc

   it appears you were correct after all

4. to develop or come into being; occur

   faults appeared during testing

5. to become publicly available; be published

   his biography appeared last month

6. to perform or act

   he has appeared in many London productions

7. to be present in court before a magistrate or judge

   he appeared on two charges of theft

Other Words From

• reap·pear verb (used without object)
• well-ap·pearing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of appear¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English ap(p)eren, from Anglo-French, Old French aper-, tonic stem of apare(i)r, apparoir, from Latin appārēre “to be seen, appear,” equivalent to ap- ap- ¹( def ) + pārēre “to be visible”

Word History and Origins

Origin of appear¹

C13: from Old French aparoir, from Latin appārēre to become visible, attend upon, from pārēre to appear

Synonym Study

See seem.

Example Sentences

Additionally, ancient adaptation signals can be masked by genetic drift -- random fluctuations in the frequency that genes appear -- and population mixing, which causes certain adaptive traits to disappear from the gene pool.

From Science Daily

The couple appear to be calling rural England their new home, putting up their Montecito, California estate on the market.

From Salon

But a woman who survived one of the massacres has appeared on Algerian television, alleging that the book’s heroine – named Fajr – is based on her own personal story.

From BBC

Often ridiculed by parliamentary sketch writers for mangling the English language, to supporters he appeared an ordinary man facing the intellectual bullying by people with a better education.

From BBC

The fire started in an alley behind a building surrounded by what appeared to be discarded furniture and boxes, according to video from the scene.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• arrive
• come
• come out
• crop up
• develop
• emerge
• materialize
• occur
• pop up
• present
• show
• show up
• surface
• turn out
• turn up