appear

verb

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ap·pear | \ ə-ˈpir

appeared; appearing; appears

Definition of appear

intransitive verb

1a : to be or come in sight when the sun appears on the horizon

b : to show up He appears promptly at eight each day.

2 : to come formally before an authoritative body must appear in court today

3 : to have an outward aspect : seem She appears (to be) happy enough.

4 : to become evident or manifest There appears to be evidence to the contrary.

5 : to come into public view a performer who first appeared on a television variety show The book appeared in print a few years ago.

6 : to come into existence Hominids appeared late in the evolutionary chain.

Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about appear

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Examples of appear in a Sentence

She appears a nice enough person. Winning the election appears unlikely at this point. One by one, the stars appeared in the sky. The sun began to appear from behind the clouds. The airplanes seemed to appear out of nowhere. The storm disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. The cat appears at our kitchen door every morning. One of the guests appeared a few minutes late. He appeared a little before eight last night.

Recent Examples on the Web The plan is to see what works in which types of situations, and maybe try that elsewhere in other situations that appear similar. — David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Lessons learned from ‘slow streets’ experiment could help San Diego boost walking, cycling," 8 May 2021 But the country has ended up using two vaccines that appear to be less effective against symptomatic covid-19. — Adam Taylor, Anchorage Daily News, "Why the world’s most vaccinated country is seeing a spike in coronavirus cases," 7 May 2021 The original brown vaulted ceiling warms a spacious room with plenty of volume to hang two large chandeliers of abundant candlesticks, display paintings, and show off a mélange of fabrics in patterns that appear to be borrowed from the sea. — Krissa Rossbund, Better Homes & Gardens, "Cool Colors and Whimsical Patterns Make a Splash in This 1970s Home," 7 May 2021 But the country has ended up using two vaccines that appear to be less effective against symptomatic covid-19. — Washington Post, "Why the world’s most vaccinated country is seeing an unprecedented spike in coronavirus cases," 6 May 2021 At about 20 places in a very large data file for another 2014 paper in Nature Climate Change, the raw data do not add up to total scores that appear a few columns farther to the right. — Martin Enserink, Science | AAAS, "Does ocean acidification alter fish behavior? Fraud allegations create a sea of doubt," 6 May 2021 There are many broods of periodic cicadas that appear on rigid schedules in different years, but this is one of the largest and most noticeable. — BostonGlobe.com, "Nature at its craziest: Trillions of cicadas about to emerge," 5 May 2021 There are many broods of periodic cicadas that appear on rigid schedules in different years, but this is one of the largest and most noticeable. — Seth Borenstein, Star Tribune, "Nature at its craziest: Trillions of cicadas about to emerge," 5 May 2021 There are many broods of periodic cicadas that appear on rigid schedules in different years, but this is one of the largest and most noticeable. — Fox News, "Trillions of cicadas about to emerge across US," 5 May 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'appear.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for appear

Middle English aperen, apperen, borrowed from Anglo-French apier-, aper-, tonic stem of aparer, apareir, aparoir, going back to Latin appārēre "to come into sight, be visible, be evident," from ad- ad- + pārēre "to be visible, be evident, be subject (to), comply (with)," of uncertain origin

Note: Latin pārēre has been compared with a supposed base *peh₂-s-, suggested as the source of Avestan pišiiaṇt- "seeing," Armenian hayim "(I) look," Albanian pashë "(I) saw," though the limited nature of the evidence makes such a hypothesis speculative.

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Dictionary Entries near appear

appealing

appeals court

appeal to the country

appear

appearance

appearances to the contrary

appearingly

Statistics for appear

Last Updated

11 May 2021

Cite this Entry

“Appear.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/appear. Accessed 18 May. 2021.

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More Definitions for appear

appear

verb

English Language Learners Definition of appear

somewhat formal : to seem to be something : to make someone think that a person or thing has a particular characteristic

: to become visible : to begin to be seen

: to arrive at a place : to show up

See the full definition for appear in the English Language Learners Dictionary

appear

verb

ap·pear | \ ə-ˈpir

appeared; appearing

Kids Definition of appear

1 : to come into sight Stars appeared in the sky.

2 : to present oneself appear in court

3 : seem sense 1 The runner in the lead appears to be tired.

4 : to come before the public The book appeared last year.

5 : to come into existence The first dinosaurs appeared around 215 million years ago.

appear

intransitive verb

ap·pear

Legal Definition of appear

1 : to present oneself before a person or body having authority: as

a : to present oneself in court as a party to a lawsuit often through the representation of an attorney also : to participate as a party to a lawsuit in a way other than by physical presence (as by mail)

b : to present oneself in court as the attorney for a party to a lawsuit appearing for the defendant

2 : to have an outward look conduct that appears unethical