# appear
## English
### Alternative forms

* appeare, appeer, appeere (obsolete)

### Etymology

From Middle English apperen, aperen, borrowed from Old French aparoir (French apparoir), from Latin appāreō (“I appear”), from ad (“to”) + pāreō (“I come forth, I become visible”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-s- (“watch, see”), s-present of *peh₂- (“protect”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /əˈpɪə/
* (General American) IPA: /əˈpɪɹ/, [əˈpʰɪɹ]
** Audio (US):(file)
* (Scotland) IPA: /əˈpiːɹ/
* Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

### Verb

appear (third-person singular simple present appears, present participle appearing, simple past and past participle appeared)
* (intransitive) To come or be in sight; to be in view; to become visible.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 1:9:And God […] said, Let […] the dry land appear.
** 2012 March-April, Jeremy Bernstein, “A Palette of Particles”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 146:There were also particles no one had predicted that just appeared. Five of them […, i]n order of increasing modernity, […] are the neutrino, the pi meson, the antiproton, the quark and the Higgs boson.
* (intransitive) To come before the public.
    A great writer appeared at that time.
** 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.
* (intransitive) To stand in presence of some authority, tribunal, or superior person, to answer a charge, plead a cause, etc.; to present oneself as a party or advocate before a court, or as a person to be tried.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 5:10:We must all appear before the judgment seat.
** 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:One ruffian escaped because no prosecutor dared to appear.
* (intransitive) To become visible to the apprehension of the mind; to be known as a subject of observation or comprehension, or as a thing proved; to be obvious or manifest.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 John 3:2:It doth not yet appear what we shall be.
** 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:Of their vain contest appeared no end.
** 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?
** 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist:Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, […] .
* (intransitive, copulative) To seem; to have a certain semblance; to look.
    He appeared quite happy with the result.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 6:16:They disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast.
** 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.
* (transitive) To bring into view.
** c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:[Angelo] is yet a devil / His filth within being cast, he would appear / A pond as deep as hell.

#### Usage notes

* In the senses be obvious and seem, appear is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
* Particularly in the senses be obvious, seem, and bring into view, appear is a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs

#### Synonyms

* (to become visible): emerge; see also Thesaurus:appear
* (to seem): look

#### Antonyms

* (antonym(s) of “to become visible”): disappear, vanish

#### Derived terms

* appearable
* appearency
* appearingly
* appear in the Gazette
* coappear
* misappear
* nonappearin
* reappear
* speak of the devil and he shall appear

#### Related terms

* appearance
* apparent
* appearer

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.