Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Easily perceived or understood; apparent. synonym: apparent.
- adjective Easily seen through because of a lack of subtlety; transparent.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Being or standing in the way; standing or placed in the front.
- Open; exposed to danger or accident.
- Coming in the way; presenting itself as to be done.
- Easily discovered, seen, or understood; plain; manifest; evident; palpable.
- In zoology, plainly distinguishable; quite apparent: as, an obvious mark; an obvious stria: opposed -to obscure or obsolete.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective obsolete Opposing; fronting.
- adjective obsolete Exposed; subject; open; liable.
- adjective Easily discovered, seen, or understood; readily perceived by the eye or the intellect; plain; evident; apparent
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Easily
discovered ,seen , orunderstood ;self-explanatory .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Mexico, how identical in shape and size with the protuberance of Africa just opposite, and how the protuberance of the Venezuelan and Brazilian coast fits in with the in-curve of Africa: so that it is obvious to me -- it is quite _obvious_ -- that they once were one; and one night rushed so far apart; and the wild Atlantic knew that thing, and ran gladly, hasting in between: and how if eye of flesh had been there to see, and ear to hear that cruel thundering, my God, my God -- what horror!
The Purple Cloud 1906
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I second Nav's comment: sometimes it's not easy to be the one to point out the obvious, especially when the obvious is the status quo.
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Claiming to be oblivious to the obvious is a big part of social status striving these days.
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This editing of the obvious is a Baldwinism — but you have to look hard to realize its impact.
A Real American Hero David Netto 2010
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“We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.”
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“We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.”
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As I was wondering how I can write an interesting post about a struggle for the obvious (collective agreement, job security etc), it suddenly came to me: the fact that the academic staff has to fight for the obvious is the whole point here.
Global Voices in English » Israel: Bloggers Back the Struggle for Workers’ Rights 2009
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To call Balls pathological for stating the obvious is a clear example of why Cameron and the Conservatives are sliding down the poll ratings.
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“We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.”
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“We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.”
oroboros commented on the word obvious
For an offbeat look at this concept see: I plus Not-I equals Everything.
December 22, 2006