appear

English

Etymology

From Middle English apperen, aperen, from Old French aparoir (French apparoir, apparaître), from Latin apparēre (“to appear”), from ad (“to”) + parēre (“come forth, to be visible”).

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /əˈpɪə/
• (GenAm) IPA: /əˈpiɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(r)

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.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Genesis 1:9:

     And God ... said, Let ... the dry land appear.

2. (intransitive) To come before the public.

   A great writer appeared at that time.

3. (intransitive) To stand in presence of some authority, tribunal, or superior person, to answer a charge, plead a cause, or the like; to present one's self as a party or advocate before a court, or as a person to be tried.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Corinthians 5:10:

     We must all appear before the judgment seat.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Thomas Babington Macaulay:

   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.
   • (Can we date this quote?) 1 John 3:2:

     It doth not yet appear what we shall be.

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton:

     Of their vain contest appeared no end.

5. (intransitive, copulative) To seem; to have a certain semblance; to look.

   He appeared quite happy with the result.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Matthew 6:16:

     They disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast.

Usage notes

• Senses 4, 5. This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• (seem): look

Antonyms

• (to become visible): disappear, vanish

Related terms

• appearance
• apparent

Translations

To come or be in sight; to be in view; to become visible

Bulgarian: появявам се (bg), показвам се (bg) Catalan: aparèixer (ca), sortir (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 出現 (zh), 出现 (zh) (chūxiàn) Croatian: pojaviti se (hr), ukazati se (hr), doći na vidjelo (hr) Dutch: verschijnen (nl) Esperanto: aperi (eo) Ewe: dze Finnish: ilmestyä, tulla näkyviin French: apparaître (fr) German: erscheinen (de), auftauchen (de)

Greek: εμφανίζομαι (el) Hebrew: הופיע (he) (hofía) Ido: aparar (io) Interlingua: apparer (ia) Japanese: 現れる (ja) (あらわれる, arawareru) Latin: videor (la), appareo (la), compareo (la), pareo (la), coorior (la), orior (la), provenio (la), prodeo (la), prodio (la) Portuguese: aparecer (pt), surgir (pt) Romanian: apărea (ro) Russian: появляться (ru) (pojavlját'sja) impf., появиться (ru) (pojavit'sja) pf. Spanish: aparecer (es) Welsh: ymddangos (cy)

To come before the public

Bulgarian: явявам се (bg) Chinese: Mandarin: 露面 (zh) (lòumiàn) Croatian: nastupiti (hr) Czech: objevit se Dutch: verschijnen (nl), zijn opwachting maken (nl), haar opwachting maken (nl), optreden (nl)

German: erscheinen (de), auftauchen (de) Hebrew: הופיע (he) (hofía) Latin: coorior (la), orior (la), provenio (la) Russian: являться (ru) (javlját'sja) impf., явиться (ru) (javit'sja) pf., представать (ru) (predstavát') impf., предстать (ru) (predstát') pf. Spanish: aparecer (es)

To stand in presence of some authority, tribunal, or superior person, to answer a charge, plead a cause, or the like

Bulgarian: явявам се (bg) Croatian: istupiti (hr) Dutch: verschijnen (nl) German: erscheinen (de), auftreten (de) Latin: compareo (la), coorior (la), orior (la), provenio (la)

Portuguese: comparecer (pt) Russian: являться (ru) (javlját'sja) impf., явиться (ru) (javit'sja) pf., представать (ru) (predstavát') impf., предстать (ru) (predstát') pf. Spanish: comparecer (es)

To become visible to the apprehension of the mind

Czech: objevit se Dutch: blijken (nl) German: erscheinen (de), einleuchten (de) Latin: videor (la), pareo (la), appareo (la), coorior (la), orior (la), provenio (la)

Russian: видеться (ru) (vídet'sja) impf., привидеться (ru) (privídet'sja) pf. Spanish: aparecer (es)

To seem; to have a certain semblance; to look

Arabic: ظهر (ar) (Záhara), بدا (ar) (badaa) ((present tense:) يبدو (ar) (yábdu)) Catalan: semblar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 好像 (zh) (hǎoxiàng), 顯得 (zh), 显得 (zh) (xiǎnde) Dutch: lijken (nl) Esperanto: aspekti (eo) Finnish: näyttää (fi) French: sembler (fr), paraître (fr) German: erscheinen (de), aussehen (de) Greek: φαίνομαι (el) (faínomai) Haitian Creole: sanble

Hebrew: נראה (he) (nir'á) Hindi: दिखना (hi) (dikhnā) Japanese: ...らしい (ja) (...rashii), ...そう (ja) (...-sō), ...ように見える (ja) (...yō-ni mieru), 思われる (ja) (おもわれる, omowareru) Lao: ປະກົດ (lo) (pa-kot) Latin: coorior (la), coorior (la), orior (la), provenio (la), simulo (la), similo (la), videor (la) Romanian: părea (ro), da impresia (ro) Russian: казаться (ru) (kazát'sja) impf., показаться (ru) (pokazát'sja) pf. Santali: ᱧᱮᱞ (nyel) Spanish: parecer (es) Urdu: دکھایا (ur) (dikhnā)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Scottish Gaelic: nochd

Turkish: Görünmek

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: presence · learned · minutes · #659: appear · thoughts · former · twenty