prima facie
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Latin prīmā (“first”) faciē (“shape, figure”), literally “at the first appearance.”
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɹiːmə ˈfeɪsiː/, /ˈpɹaɪmə ˈfeɪsiː/, /-ʃiː/, /-ʃə/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈpɹiːmə ˈfæɪsiː/, /ˈpɹɑɪmə ˈfæɪsiː/, /-ʃiː/, /-ʃə/
Adverb
[edit]prima facie (comparative more prima facie, superlative most prima facie)
- (law) At first sight; on the face of it.
- 1871, Gail Hamilton, Gala-days, page 191:
- […] the nicest young man that ever was, — daintily gloved, patently booted, oilily curled, snowily wristbanded, with a lovely cambric (prima facie) handkerchief bound about his hyacinthine locks and polished hat.
- 1916 April 8, The National Provisioner, volume 54, number 15, page 36, column 2:
- Prima facie this may not read like a true story.
Synonyms
[edit]- apparently, seemingly, ostensibly; see also Thesaurus:ostensibly
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]at first sight
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Adjective
[edit]prima facie (not comparable)
- (law) Apparently correct; not needing proof unless evidence to the contrary is shown.
Usage notes
[edit]In common usage, often used to mean that the conclusion is obvious. In more narrow legal usage, it means rather that there is a case to answer – that the question is clear, but the conclusion is not necessarily obvious. See also Wikipedia at Prima facie: res ipsa loquitur and Res ipsa loquitur: contrast to prima facie.
Synonyms
[edit]- immediate, indubitable, self-evident; see also Thesaurus:obvious
Translations
[edit]apparently correct
Spanish
[edit]Adverb
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “prima facie”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Categories:
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *dʰeh₁-
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adverbs
- English multiword terms
- en:Law
- English terms with quotations
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish adverbs
- Spanish multiword terms
- es:Law