OBVIOUS

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does obvious mean? 

• OBVIOUS (adjective)
  The adjective OBVIOUS has 1 sense:

1. easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind

  Familiarity information: OBVIOUS used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OBVIOUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind

Context example:

obvious errors

Similar:

apparent; evident; manifest; palpable; patent; plain; unmistakable (clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment)

axiomatic; self-evident; taken for granted (evident without proof or argument)

demonstrable; provable (capable of being demonstrated or proved)

frank (clearly manifest; evident)

open-and-shut (so obvious as to be easily solved or decided)

self-explanatory (needing no explanation)

transparent (easily understood or seen through (because of a lack of subtlety))

writ large (made more obvious or prominent)

Also:

open; overt (open and observable; not secret or hidden)

Attribute:

noticeability; noticeableness; obviousness; patency (the property of being easy to see and understand)

Antonym:

unobvious (not immediately apparent)

Derivation:

obviousness (the property of being easy to see and understand)

 Context examples 

This study shows that dust transported around the world in the atmosphere is an important source of nutrients for plants, even where its contribution isn't obvious.

(Study reveals surprising role of dust in mountain ecosystems, National Science Foundation)

This may account also for the obvious fact that his wife has ceased to love him.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Differences were most prominent in the brains of children with ADHD and less obvious in the brains of adults with the disorder.

(Brains of Those with ADHD Show Smaller Structures Related to Emotion, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Plant movement is generally not obvious and tends to go unnoticed.

(Some plants are capable of ‘rubbing’ themselves for hours in order to achieve self fertilization, University of Granada)

So far, scientists have found no obvious explanation for their observed locations or brightness levels.

(Bright Spots Shine in Newest Dawn Ceres Images, NASA)

Pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose because it often doesn't have obvious early symptoms.

(New Approach to Pancreatic Cancer Screening May Help Catch Disease Earlier, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Of all the gloomy features of that gloomy afternoon, this obvious anxiety on the part of Long John appeared the worst.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

A first-degree relative (parent, sibling, child) documented to have died suddenly of presumed cardiac etiology without other obvious cause.

(History of Sudden Cardiac Death, NCI Thesaurus)

And after 12 hours, researchers saw “an obvious reduction in plastic mass.

(Plastic Eating Worm Could Help Ease Pollution, VOA)

If we could get the rest of that sheet it is obvious that we should have gone a long way towards solving the mystery.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)