man·i·fest
ˈma-nə-ˌfest 
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
manifestly
adverb
manifested; manifesting; manifests
: to make evident or certain by showing or displaying
manifester
noun
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
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
New York Times, 1 May 2025
He will always be remembered for his manifest humility, simplicity of life, and tireless love for the poor.
—Daniel Foster, National Review, 15 May 2025
Ginny Whitelaw, Forbes.com, 1 June 2025
In the postwar period, car culture has become a seductive violation of private and public space, manifested in its ever more powerful cult status and continually expanding fetishization of an imaginary self-ruling and self-rolling subject secreted in shiny, protective armor.
—Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Artforum, 1 June 2025
Mike Wall, Space.com, 22 May 2025
The means by which power manifests has expanded, growing more subtle, more layered and often more dangerous.
—Andrew Latham, The Conversation, 29 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for manifest
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Adjective
Michael Kimmelman, The Times’s chief architecture critic and Headway’s editor at large, recently had the chance to see one of these back-to-the-future visions made manifest.
—New York Times, 1 May 2025
He will always be remembered for his manifest humility, simplicity of life, and tireless love for the poor.
—Daniel Foster, National Review, 15 May 2025
Verb
But wise, connected AI development and use can serve as a vein of gold through the detritus of disruption and destruction of coming years, manifesting the priceless role of humanity in the evolution of consciousness.
—Ginny Whitelaw, Forbes.com, 1 June 2025
In the postwar period, car culture has become a seductive violation of private and public space, manifested in its ever more powerful cult status and continually expanding fetishization of an imaginary self-ruling and self-rolling subject secreted in shiny, protective armor.
—Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Artforum, 1 June 2025
Noun
For example, Colglazier said the company — which currently has about 675 customers on its manifest — plans to start accepting flight reservations again in the first quarter of 2026.
—Mike Wall, Space.com, 22 May 2025
The means by which power manifests has expanded, growing more subtle, more layered and often more dangerous.
—Andrew Latham, The Conversation, 29 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for manifest
Cite this Entry
“Manifest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manifest. Accessed 12 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
manifest
1 of 3 adjective
man·i·fest
ˈman-ə-ˌfest
: clear to the senses or mind : obvious
their relief was manifest
manifestly
adverb
manifest
2 of 3 verb
: to show plainly : display
manifest
3 of 3 noun
: a list of cargo or passengers especially for a ship or plane
Legal Definition
manifest
1 of 3 adjective
man·i·fest
ˈma-nə-ˌfest
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
manifestly
adverb
manifest
2 of 3 transitive verb
: to make evident or certain by showing or displaying
manifesting the intent to make a gift
manifest
3 of 3 noun
: a list of passengers or an invoice of cargo for a vehicle (as a ship or plane)
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