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Webster 1913 Edition

Appear

Ap-pear′

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Appeared
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Appearing
.]
[OE.
apperen
,
aperen
, OF.
aparoir
, F.
apparoir
, fr. L.
appar[GREEK]re
to appear +
par[GREEK]re
to come forth, to be visible; prob. from the same root as
par[GREEK]re
to produce. Cf.
Apparent
,
Parent
,
Peer
,
Verb.
I.
]
1.
To come or be in sight; to be in view; to become visible.
And God . . . said, Let . . . the dry land
appear
.
Gen. i. 9.
2.
To come before the public;
as, a great writer
appeared
at that time
.
3.
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.
We must all
appear
before the judgment seat.
2 Cor. v. 10.
One ruffian escaped because no prosecutor dared to
appear
.
Macaulay.
4.
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.
It doth not yet
appear
what we shall be.
1 John iii. 2.
Of their vain contest
appeared
no end.
Milton.
5.
To seem; to have a certain semblance; to look.
They disfigure their faces, that they may
appear
unto men to fast.
Matt. vi. 16.
Syn. – To seem; look. See
Seem
.

Ap-pear′

,
Noun.
Appearance.
[Obs.]
J. Fletcher.

Webster 1828 Edition

Appear

APPE'AR

,
Verb.
I.
[L. appareo, of ad and pareo, to appear, or be manifest.]
1.
To come or be in sight; to be in view; to be visible.
The leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh. Lev. 13.
And God said, Let the dry land appear. Gen. 1.
2.
To become visible to the eye, as a spirit, or to the apprehension of the mind; a sense frequent in scripture.
The Lord appeared to Abram, and said. Gen 12.
The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush. Ex. 3.
3.
To stand in presence of, as parties or advocates before a court, or as persons to be tried. The defendant, being called, did not appear.
We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. 2Cor. 5.
4.
To be obvious; to be known, as a subject of observation or comprehension.
Let thy work appear to thy servant. Ps. 90.
It doth not yet appear what we shall be. 1John 3.
5.
To be clear or made clear by evidence; as, this fact appears by ancient records.
But sin that it might appear sin. Rom 7.
6.
To seem, in opposition to reality.
They disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to fast. Mat. 6.
7.
To be discovered, or laid open.
That they shame may appear. Jer. 13.

APPE'AR

,
Noun.
Appearance. Obs.

Definition 2024

appear

appear

English

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, 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.‎
    • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Affair at the Novelty Theatre:
      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, or the like; to present one's self as a party or advocate before a court, or as a person to be tried.
  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, 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.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess:
      ‘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, Matthew 6:16:
      They disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess:
      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.

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

Antonyms

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Translations

Statistics

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

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

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