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Seemingly vs Apparent - What's the difference?

seemingly | apparent |

As an adverb seemingly

is to appearances; apparently.

As an adjective apparent is

capable of being seen, or easily seen; open to view; visible to the eye; within sight or view.

seemingly

English

Adverb

(en adverb)
  • To appearances; apparently.
  • * 1748 , David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral , Oxford University Press (1973), section 15:
    • an object, seemingly like those which we have experienced, may be attended with different or contrary effects.
  • * 1816 , (Jane Austen), , Volume 1, Chapter 8:
    • Mr. Woodhouse at last was off; but Mr. Knightley, instead of being immediately off likewise, sat down again, seemingly inclined for more chat. He began speaking of Harriet, and speaking of her with more voluntary praise than Emma had ever heard before.
  • *, chapter=5
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.}}
  • * 2006 , Ace Collins, More Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas , page 64:
    • He sacrificed nothing, laboring to get even the most seemingly insignificant element of every record perfect.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=October 1 , author=Tom Fordyce , title=Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=With rain lashing across the ground at kick-off and every man in Auckland seemingly either English-born or supporting Scotland, Eden Park was transformed into Murrayfield in March.}}
  • In a seemly manner; decorously; with propriety.
  • * 1950 , Francis Charles Turner, James II , page 172:
    • It was possibly chagrin at this neglect that caused James to omit the most ordinary courtesies to the few gentlemen who had behaved seemingly :.
  • * 1974 , G. N. Uzoigwe, Britain and the Conquest of Africa: The Age of Salisbury , page 180:
    • was restored to his throne but only on the understanding that he behave seemingly .
  • * 1989 , Yi-fu Tuan, Morality & Imagination: Paradoxes of Progress , page 40:
    • they know the roles and statuses of deities, ancestral spirits, and men, and how to behave seemingly in their presence.

    Derived terms

    * unseemingly

    apparent

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Capable of being seen, or easily seen; open to view; visible to the eye; within sight or view.
  • * 1667, (John Milton), (Paradise Lost) , ,
    • […] Hesperus, that led / The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon, / Rising in clouded majesty, at length / Apparent queen unveiled her peerless light, / And o’er the dark her silver mantle threw.
  • Clear or manifest to the understanding; plain; evident; obvious; known; palpable; indubitable.
  • * (William Shakespeare), ,
    • Salisbury: It is apparent foul-play; and ’tis shame / That greatness should so grossly offer it: / So thrive it in your game! and so, farewell.
  • * 1897 , (Bram Stoker), (Dracula) Chapter 20
    • When I came to Renfield's room I found him lying on the floor on his left side in a glittering pool of blood. When I went to move him, it became at once apparent that he had received some terrible injuries.
  • Appearing to the eye or mind (distinguished from, but not necessarily opposed to, true or real); seeming.
  • * 1785, (Thomas Reid), Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man , Essay II (“Of the Powers we have by means of our External Senses”), Chapter XIX (“Of Matter and of Space”),
    • What (George Berkeley) calls visible magnitude was by astronomers called apparent magnitude.
  • * 1848 , , (The History of England from the Accession of James the Second) ,
    • To live on terms of civility, and even of apparent friendship.
  • * 1911 , , “”,
    • This apparent motion is due to the finite velocity of light, and the progressive motion of the observer with the earth, as it performs its yearly course about the sun.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Boundary problems , passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.}}

    Usage notes

    * The word (term) has two common uses that are almost in opposition. One means roughly “clear; clearly true”, and serves to make a statement more decisive: *: It was apparent that no one knew the answer. (=No one knew the answer, and it showed.) * The other is roughly “seeming; to all appearances”, and serves to make a statement less decisive: *: The apparent source of the hubbub was a stray kitten. (=There was a stray kitten, and it seemed to be the source of the hubbub.) * The same ambivalence occurs with the derived adverb (apparently), which usually means “seemingly” but can also mean “clearly”, especially when it is modified by another adverb, such as (quite).

    Synonyms

    * (easy to see) visible, distinct, plain, obvious, clear * (easy to understand) distinct, plain, obvious, clear, certain, evident, manifest, indubitable, notorious, transparent * (seeming to be the case) illusory, superficial

    Antonyms

    * (within sight or view) hidden, invisible * (clear to the understanding) ambiguous, obscure

    Derived terms

    * apparency * apparent horizon * apparent time * apparently * apparentness * heir apparent

    Related terms

    * apparition * appear * appearance

    References

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