manifest

adjective

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man·i·fest | \ ˈma-nə-ˌfest

Definition of manifest

(Entry 1 of 3)

1 : readily perceived by the senses and especially by the sense of sight Their sadness was manifest in their faces.

2 : easily understood or recognized by the mind : obvious

manifest

verb

manifested; manifesting; manifests

Definition of manifest (Entry 2 of 3)

transitive verb

: to make evident or certain by showing or displaying

manifest

noun

Definition of manifest (Entry 3 of 3)

1 : manifestation, indication

2 : manifesto

3 : a list of passengers or an invoice of cargo for a vehicle (such as a ship or plane)

Other Words from manifest Synonyms & Antonyms Choose the Right Synonym More Example Sentences Learn More about manifest

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Choose the Right Synonym for manifest

Adjective

evident, manifest, patent, distinct, obvious, apparent, plain, clear mean readily perceived or apprehended. evident implies presence of visible signs that lead one to a definite conclusion. an evident fondness for sweets manifest implies an external display so evident that little or no inference is required. manifest hostility patent applies to a cause, effect, or significant feature that is clear and unmistakable once attention has been directed to it. patent defects distinct implies such sharpness of outline or definition that no unusual effort to see or hear or comprehend is required. a distinct refusal obvious implies such ease in discovering that it often suggests conspicuousness or little need for perspicacity in the observer. the obvious solution apparent is very close to evident except that it may imply more conscious exercise of inference. for no apparent reason plain suggests lack of intricacy, complexity, or elaboration. her feelings about him are plain clear implies an absence of anything that confuses the mind or obscures the pattern. a clear explanation

Verb

show, manifest, evidence, evince, demonstrate mean to reveal outwardly or make apparent. show is the general term but sometimes implies that what is revealed must be gained by inference from acts, looks, or words. careful not to show his true feelings manifest implies a plainer, more immediate revelation. manifested musical ability at an early age evidence suggests serving as proof of the actuality or existence of something. a commitment evidenced by years of loyal service evince implies a showing by outward marks or signs. evinced not the slightest fear demonstrate implies showing by action or by display of feeling. demonstrated their approval by loud applause

Examples of manifest in a Sentence

Adjective The argument, for all of its manifest inadequacies … captured the national imagination and shaped subsequent religious discourse. It provided a vocabulary, an explanation, and a new set of boundaries for the restructured American religion that had by then been developing for half a century. — Jonathan D. Sarna, American Judaism, 2004 Economics, the great model among us now, indulges and deprives, builds and abandons, threatens and promises. Its imperium is manifest, irrefragable—as in fact it has been since antiquity. — Marilynne Robinson, The Death of Adam, 1998 Washington has long been uneasy about its relationship with Somalia, partly because of the manifest shakiness of the Siad Barre administration but also because of Somalia's continuing claims on the Ogaden. — John Borrell, Wall Street Journal, 23 Aug. 1982 His muscles were getting flabby, and his tailor called attention to his increasing waistband. In fact, Daylight was developing a definite paunch. This physical deterioration was manifest likewise in his face. — Jack London, Burning Daylight, 1910 Their sadness was manifest in their faces. His love for literature is manifest in his large library. There was manifest confusion in the streets. Verb Malone has invited Barkley to spend a week … to relax, talk some basketball, eat some hot Louisiana food and kick around the subject of frustration, something they both feel but manifest in different ways. — Jack McCallum, Sports Illustrated, 27 Apr. 1992 He asked what they had been doing in Dallas, and they told him that they were looking at the Sunbelt boom as manifested in the great Texas banks, thrifts and real estate operations. — John Kenneth Galbraith, A Tenured Professor, 1990 And if one is a pantheist … one might say that all nature is divinity and manifests itself in myriad forms and delightful complexities. — Margot Adler, Drawing Down the Moon, 1986 Both sides have manifested a stubborn unwillingness to compromise. Their religious beliefs are manifested in every aspect of their lives. Her behavior problems began manifesting themselves soon after she left home. Noun Since 2002, a program known as the Container Security Initiative requires our main trading partners to send to U.S. Customs and border Protection an electronic manifest for every U.S.-bound container twenty-four hours before it is loaded on a ship. — William Finnegan, New Yorker, 19 June 2006 Has any passenger manifest been more fretted over than the Mayflower's? — Jack Hitt, Harper's, July 2005 But for me, finding it still in "use" is high on the manifest of writerly thrills longed for—along with seeing someone you don't know hungrily reading your book on an overland bus in Turkey; or noticing your book on the shelf behind the moderator on Meet the Press next to The Wealth of Nations and Giants in the Earth; or seeing your book on a list of overlooked American masterpieces compiled by former insiders in the Kennedy administration. — Richard Ford, Independence Day, 1995

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective The film’s themes of the dream beside the reality, the aspirational and the practical, manifest throughout, as with the protagonist’s two suitors. — Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times, "Nicole Beharie embraces imperfection in life and in her ‘Miss Juneteenth’ character," 2 Mar. 2021 Based on firsthand accounts and comprehensive archival research, Traveling Black details the manifest ways in which black Americans responded to limitations on their mobility. — Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, "America’s Original Gangster Couple, Trailblazing Women Explorers and Other New Books to Read," 1 Mar. 2021 The police-union chief has protested that the agency’s leadership is merely trying to shift attention from its own manifest failings. — William Finnegan, The New Yorker, "Law Enforcement and the Problem of White Supremacy," 27 Feb. 2021 In architecture, this outlook was made manifest in the insipid giant glass boxes erected up and down Sixth Avenue in Manhattan and in other major cities from the 1950s to the 1970s. — David Harsanyi, National Review, "Washington, D.C., Deserves Its ‘Brutalism’," 29 Dec. 2020 Thus the Electoral College advantage to one party is not as manifest as commonly thought. — Star Tribune, "Readers Write: Electoral College, conservatism and liberalism," 18 Dec. 2020 The evidence of the failure is manifest in the tide of debt itself. — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, "Column: Canceling student debt should be a slam dunk. Here’s why," 2 Dec. 2020 No government agency worth its salt would bring such a case, given the manifest absence of any such activity by FDRLST Media employees or of evidence that any employee failed to get the joke. — The Editors, National Review, "The NLRB’s Humorless Insensibility," 2 Dec. 2020 Hazeltine said manifest records from Rumpke, provided to the city by the solid waste district, were far too limited to determine how much recycling was being done. — Brian Lisik, cleveland, "Brunswick and Medina officials sound off on solid waste district’s five-year update," 17 Nov. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Each leader hopes this pandemic will manifest a vaccine to cure old pains. — Ashley Louszko, ABC News, "Religious leaders work to build trust in COVID-19 vaccine in communities of color," 31 Mar. 2021 Mark is introduced reading a comic on the toilet when his mother barges into the bathroom to get ready, and Debbie’s playful ribbing of her son gains deeper resonance later in the episode when his powers finally manifest. — Oliver Sava, Vulture, "Invincible Premiere Recap: Father Knows Best," 26 Mar. 2021 Mild ailments are par for the course and typically manifest in diarrhea and loss of appetite. — Zachariah Hughes, Anchorage Daily News, "6 takeaways from an Iditarod unlike any other," 19 Mar. 2021 As anyone who received a COVID vaccine sourced from Pfizer or Moderna can attest, the flu-like symptoms that can occur post-injection typically manifest after the second dose. — Jacob Siegal, BGR, "Why does the second coronavirus vaccine shot have worse side effects?," 16 Mar. 2021 The scene is absurd, glitchy, unpredictable; what tethers it to the source material is the way in which its surrealist flights manifest emotional extremity. — Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, "Alena Smith’s Subversive “Dickinson”," 25 Feb. 2021 And unlike the most significant impacts of climate change, which manifest over decades and centuries, the devastation from nuclear warfare could unfold in mere minutes and hours. — The Editors, Scientific American, "Biden Must Take Immediate Action to Reduce the Risk of Nuclear War," 18 Feb. 2021 The process of aging is normal but can manifest in very tell-tale signs. — Daily Health Reports, Chron, "Meticore Reviews (2021 Updated) Diet Pills Supplement with Real Ingredients or Side Effects?," 4 Feb. 2021 My Chilean friend told me that his desire to appear more feminine can manifest negatively. — Claire Thornton, USA TODAY, "This is America: Gender expression in a socially distanced world," 31 Dec. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Attorneys were handed a manifest of the facility, which was about 100 pages long, Welch said. — Rosa Flores, CNN, "Kids detained at US-Mexico border haven't been able to shower for days or call their parents, lawyers say," 13 Mar. 2021 On March 16, America saw that reality manifest in the most brutal way. — Cady Lang, Time, "The Atlanta Shootings Fit Into a Long Legacy of Anti-Asian Violence in America," 18 Mar. 2021 Recent elections, as Khanna is well aware, have seen that discontent manifest in anti-immigrant language or votes and vitriol hurled against political figures tied to the urban elite. — Douglas Burns, Star Tribune, "When Big Tech meets farm country," 8 Mar. 2021 The consequences of this neglect transcend generations and manifest today as systemic inequalities, many of which were further exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. — Jessica Flores, USA TODAY, "Coronavirus updates: Unemployment benefits expire for millions of Americans; more infectious UK strain edges closer to US," 28 Dec. 2020 Soon after, the mission was taken off NASA’s shuttle flight manifest. — Mark Zastrow, Scientific American, "Al Gore's Dream Spacecraft Gears Up for Launch," 15 Jan. 2015 So how does the warm layer that causes sleet manifest itself? — Washington Post, "Sleet versus snow: The reason behind Thursday’s icy mess," 19 Feb. 2021 These differences between being Latinx and American manifest in family gatherings when questions about our future plans and relationships are put on the spot. — Jennifer Mota, refinery29.com, "Doñas, It’s Time To End The “Y El Novio” Culture," 14 Dec. 2020 For now, the Fed sits atop the commanding heights of the economy—its growing authority unquestioned, its pride manifest. — Kevin Warsh, WSJ, "The Fed Puts Its Independence on the Line," 7 Sep. 2020

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

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Last Updated

24 Mar 2021

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“Manifest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manifest. Accessed 17 Apr. 2021.

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More Definitions for manifest

manifest

adjective

English Language Learners Definition of manifest

(Entry 1 of 2)

formal

: able to be seen : clearly shown or visible

: easy to understand or recognize

manifest

verb

English Language Learners Definition of manifest (Entry 2 of 2)

formal : to show (something) clearly

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

manifest

adjective

man·i·fest | \ ˈma-nə-ˌfest

Kids Definition of manifest

(Entry 1 of 2)

: easy to detect or recognize : obvious Their relief was manifest.

manifest

verb

manifested; manifesting

Kids Definition of manifest (Entry 2 of 2)

: to show plainly … her human curiosity … began to manifest itself …— Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer

manifest

adjective

man·i·fest | \ ˈma-nə-ˌfest

Legal Definition of manifest

(Entry 1 of 3)

1 : capable of being readily perceived by the senses and especially by sight a manifest injury

2 : capable of being easily understood or recognized : clearly evident, obvious, and indisputable vacating an arbitrator's award because of the arbitrator's manifest disregard of the law

manifest

transitive verb

Legal Definition of manifest (Entry 2 of 3)

: to make evident or certain by showing or displaying manifesting the intent to make a gift