as in obvious
not subject to misinterpretation or more than one interpretation
believing that poetry need not be as perspicuous as prose, he writes poems that are intentionally ambiguous
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Recent Examples of perspicuous
But where Hofstadter is playfully enigmatic and brashly brainy, Chalmers’s writing is perspicuous and teacherly — an approach that keeps it from collapsing into recalcitrant obscurity.
—
Washington Post, 11 Feb. 2022
Conditions in the state the planes left behind them were far less perspicuous.
—The Economist, 8 Feb. 2020
The president began his Monday by scrutinizing his national security briefing, filling its margins with perspicuous questions and observations.
—Eric Levitz, Daily Intelligencer, 10 July 2017
Unspoken but perspicuous is the wish to (at worst) score points off Democrats and (at best) free up a seat on the nation’s most important appeals court for a nominee from the Federalist Society weapons locker.
—Garrett Epps, The Atlantic, 12 May 2017
Washington Post, 11 Feb. 2022
Conditions in the state the planes left behind them were far less perspicuous.
—The Economist, 8 Feb. 2020
The president began his Monday by scrutinizing his national security briefing, filling its margins with perspicuous questions and observations.
—Eric Levitz, Daily Intelligencer, 10 July 2017
Unspoken but perspicuous is the wish to (at worst) score points off Democrats and (at best) free up a seat on the nation’s most important appeals court for a nominee from the Federalist Society weapons locker.
—Garrett Epps, The Atlantic, 12 May 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for perspicuous
Adjective
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Black inks for the same printers tend to have less obvious smearing than the color ink, and many smear just enough to see a smudge, without harming readability.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
30 Sep. 2025
-
But Trump’s arbitrary brand of interventionism comes with obvious dangers.—
John Cassidy,
New Yorker,
29 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Precise numbers of staffing cuts are hard to pin down, but their historic scale in the first eight months of this administration is unmistakable.—
Chris Sellers,
The Conversation,
29 Sep. 2025
-
But some parts are unmistakable.—
Abby Hamblin,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
29 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Foreclosure would become nonviable as a means of tax collection — with no readily apparent alternative means for timely collection of the delinquent revenue.—
Todd Spangler,
Freep.com,
3 Oct. 2025
-
Remember, magnitude is the scale used by astronomers to chart the apparent brightness of an object in the night sky.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
3 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The impact of this team is evident not only in their buildings but in their relationships.—
Malana VanTyler,
USA Today,
3 Oct. 2025
-
While some laws have changed, the wealth is evident even on a brief visit.—
Vivienne Walt,
Time,
3 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Once numbing kicks in, most patients describe the day as straightforward.—
Nia Bowers,
USA Today,
3 Oct. 2025
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That concentration makes capture relatively straightforward by routing the exhaust through chemical scrubbers, binding the CO2, compressing and storing it underground.—
Tejasri Gururaj,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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A lot of the information being funneled to him and his peers from news sources wasn't clear.—
David Ferrara,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
30 Sep. 2025
-
Your best chance to catch a glimpse of the auroras is at very high latitudes, such as northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland and possibly the far north of Scotland, if the skies are clear.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
29 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Researchers from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) have used a massive UK Biobank dataset analysis to identify that fat distribution, not just overall size, maps to distinct changes in brain structure and connectivity.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
28 Sep. 2025
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The park encompasses 134 miles of that stretch and is divided into 13 distinct sections.—
Evie Carrick,
Travel + Leisure,
27 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Perspicuous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/perspicuous. Accessed 5 Oct. 2025.
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