appear

verb

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

There, Steve begins a confessional speech, which at first glance appears to be another teen-movie trope in which bickering foils fall for each other. — Michelle Delgado, The Atlantic, "What the Starcourt Mall Means to the World of Stranger Things," 17 July 2019 Epps, who appeared in two games last season, was an All-American tight end at Houston Dekaney. — Nick Moyle, ExpressNews.com, "Big 12 Media Days: 5 Takeaways from Day 2," 16 July 2019 When the Ball brothers distanced themselves from Big Baller Brand in response to Alan Foster’s alleged multimillion-dollar embezzlement scheme, the brand appeared to be dead. — Andrew Joseph, For The Win, "Big Baller Brand's demise looks imminent with sad clearance sale at a local gym," 16 July 2019 Her work has appeared in theWashington Post, Playboy, California Sunday Magazine, Outside, The Atlantic and Vice. — Leah Sottile, Longreads, "Chapter One: A Quiet Man," 15 July 2019 Indeed, Floyd’s shelves appear to embrace the same stark wood and metal aesthetic that made its bed a mainstay in millennial homes. — Liz Stinson, Curbed, "Floyd is launching modular shelves that assemble in 20 minutes," 12 July 2019 This type of scarring results in raised areas of skin that may take months to appear after the initial skin issue or injury. — Tatiana Walk-morris, SELF, "5 Things People of Color Should Know About Taking Care of Their Skin," 12 July 2019 The other Arctic appears in books like Gretel Ehrlich’s The Future of Ice or Marla Cone’s Silent Snow, vulnerable, dying, itself a victim of the rampages of man. — Colin Dickey, The New Republic, "The Secrets in Greenland’s Ice," 11 July 2019 Will Smith recently appeared in the live-action remake of Aladdin, which has been a box-office success. — Sydney Scott, Essence, "Will Smith And Jada Pinkett Smith Are Expanding Their Entertainment Empire," 10 July 2019

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

20 Jul 2019

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for appear

The first known use of appear was in the 13th century

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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