Adjacent Words

Obvious definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

OB'VIOUS, a. [L. obvus. See the Verb.]
1. Meeting; opposed in front.
I to the evil turn my obvious breast. [Not now used.]
2. Open; exposed. [Little used.]
3. Plain; evident; easily discovered, seen or understood; readily perceived by the eye or the intellect. We say, a phenomenon obvious to the sight, or a truth obvious to the mind.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind; "obvious errors" [ant: unobvious]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Latin obvius, from obviam in the way, from ob in the way of + viam, accusative of via way — more at ob-, via Date: 1603 1. archaic being in the way or in front 2. easily discovered, seen, or understood Synonyms: see evident • obviousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. easily seen or recognized or understood; palpable, indubitable. Derivatives: obviously adv. obviousness n. Etymology: L obvius f. ob viam in the way

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Obvious Ob"vi*ous, a. [L. obvius; ob (see Ob-) + via way. See Voyage.] 1. Opposing; fronting. [Obs.] To the evil turn My obvious breast. --Milton. 2. Exposed; subject; open; liable. [Obs.] ``Obvious to dispute.'' --Milton. 3. Easily discovered, seen, or understood; readily perceived by the eye or the intellect; plain; evident; apparent; as, an obvious meaning; an obvious remark. Apart and easy to be known they lie, Amidst the heap, and obvious to the eye. --Pope. Syn: Plain; clear; evident. See Manifest. -- Ob"vi*ous*ly, adv. -- Ob"vi*ous-ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If something is obvious, it is easy to see or understand. ...the need to rectify what is an obvious injustice... Determining how the Democratic challenger would conduct his presidency isn't quite so obvious. = clear ADJ 2. If you describe something that someone says as obvious, you are being critical of it because you think it is unnecessary or shows lack of imagination. There are some very obvious phrases that we all know or certainly should know better than to use. ADJ [disapproval] • obviousness Francis smiled agreement, irritated by the obviousness of his answer. • If you say that someone is stating the obvious, you mean that they are saying something that everyone already knows and understands. It may be stating the obvious, but most teleworking at present is connected with computers. PHRASE: V inflects

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Open, exposed, liable, subject, obnoxious. 2. Plain, evident, manifest, clear, palpable, visible, patent, apparent, unmistakable, perceptible, distinct, self-evident.

Moby Thesaurus

apparent, bald, clean-cut, clear, clear as crystal, clear-cut, conspicuous, crystal-clear, defined, definite, direct, discernible, distinct, evident, explicit, express, glaring, in focus, indisputable, indubitable, manifest, noticeable, observable, open, open-and-shut, ostensible, overt, palpable, patent, perceivable, perceptible, perspicuous, plain, plain as day, prominent, pronounced, seeable, self-evident, self-explaining, self-explanatory, simple, staring, straightforward, tangible, to be seen, unambiguous, unconcealed, undeniable, unequivocal, unhidden, unmistakable, unsubtle, visible, well-defined, well-marked, well-pronounced, well-resolved