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appear

verb
ap·​pear | \ ə-ˈpir How to pronounce appear (audio) \
appeared; appearing; appears

Definition of appear

intransitive verb

1a : to be or come in sight when the sun appears on the horizon
b : to show up He appears promptly at eight each day.
2 : to come formally before an authoritative body must appear in court today
3 : to have an outward aspect : seem She appears (to be) happy enough.
4 : to become evident or manifest There appears to be evidence to the contrary.
5 : to come into public view a performer who first appeared on a television variety show The book appeared in print a few years ago.
6 : to come into existence Hominids appeared late in the evolutionary chain.
Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about appear

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Examples of appear in a Sentence

She appears a nice enough person. Winning the election appears unlikely at this point. One by one, the stars appeared in the sky. The sun began to appear from behind the clouds. The airplanes seemed to appear out of nowhere. The storm disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. The cat appears at our kitchen door every morning. One of the guests appeared a few minutes late. He appeared a little before eight last night.
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Recent Examples on the Web

 The crash appears to be caused by operator error when the woman driving the vehicle mistook the gas pedal for the brake, Deputy Fire Chief Chris West said. — BostonGlobe.com, "A 75-year-old woman mistook the gas pedal for the brake and accidentally drove her car into a dance studio Tuesday morning in Duxbury, officials said.," 11 Sep. 2019 Ian’s work on China’s Yellow River was featured in the July 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine, and has appeared in numerous other publications, such as the New Yorker, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Granta. — National Geographic, "Ian Teh," 10 Sep. 2019 The second controversial call came in the final minutes of the game, when Miller appeared to stutter step out of the box while throwing the ball to a teammate. — Julia Poe, Pro Soccer USA, "Three things we learned from Orlando City’s 2-2 draw with LAFC," 10 Sep. 2019 The model of that watch, which appeared to be a RM 11-03 McLaren Flyback Chronograph is priced at $350,000. — Andrew Joseph, For The Win, "Odell Beckham Jr. is wearing a $350K Richard Mille watch during his Browns debut," 8 Sep. 2019 The suspect appears to be wearing a black Ecko hooded sweatshirt, black pants and black and white shoes, deputies said. — Sarah Brookbank, Cincinnati.com, "Sheriff's office releases video of suspect in Anderson High School vandalism," 6 Sep. 2019 This refers to what appears to have been some lighthearted trolling. — Wired, "Jeremy Renner's App Developer: 'This Is a Freak Situation'," 6 Sep. 2019 The exact differences are unknown, but pitchers have said that the new MLB ball appears to be slicker and have lower seams. — Dennis Young, courant.com, "Luis Severino, Dellin Betances to use major league ball during rehab stint in Double-A," 5 Sep. 2019 This article originally appeared in the UCLA Anderson Review. — Evelyn Iritani, Quartz at Work, "White men and minority groups have different definitions of “sufficient” diversity," 5 Sep. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'appear.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of appear

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

History and Etymology for appear

Middle English aperen, apperen, borrowed from Anglo-French apier-, aper-, tonic stem of aparer, apareir, aparoir, going back to Latin appārēre "to come into sight, be visible, be evident," from ad- ad- + pārēre "to be visible, be evident, be subject (to), comply (with)," of uncertain origin

Note: Latin pārēre has been compared with a supposed base *peh2-s-, suggested as the source of Avestan pišiiaṇt- "seeing," Armenian hayim "(I) look," Albanian pashë "(I) saw," though the limited nature of the evidence makes such a hypothesis speculative.

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More Definitions for appear

appear

verb
How to pronounce appear (audio)

English Language Learners Definition of appear

somewhat formal : to seem to be something : to make someone think that a person or thing has a particular characteristic
: to become visible : to begin to be seen
: to arrive at a place : to show up

See the full definition for appear in the English Language Learners Dictionary

appear

verb
ap·​pear | \ ə-ˈpir How to pronounce appear (audio) \
appeared; appearing

Kids Definition of appear

1 : to come into sight Stars appeared in the sky.
2 : to present oneself appear in court
3 : seem sense 1 The runner in the lead appears to be tired.
4 : to come before the public The book appeared last year.
5 : to come into existence The first dinosaurs appeared around 215 million years ago.

appear

intransitive verb
ap·​pear

Legal Definition of appear

1 : to present oneself before a person or body having authority: as
a : to present oneself in court as a party to a lawsuit often through the representation of an attorney also : to participate as a party to a lawsuit in a way other than by physical presence (as by mail)
b

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