visible

From Middle English visible, from Old French visible, from Late Latin visibilis (“that may be seen”), from Latin videre (“to see”), past participle visus; see vision. Displaced native Old English ġesewenlīċ.

• enPR: vĭz'ĭ-bəl, vĭz'ə-bəl, IPA^(key): /ˈvɪzɪb(ə)l/, /ˈvɪzəb(ə)l/

  • Audio (London):

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  • Audio (California):

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• Rhymes: -ɪbəl

visible (comparative more visible, superlative most visible)

1. Able to be seen.

   Synonyms: apparent, seeable

   Antonyms: hidden, invisible

   When the sun rises, the world becomes visible.

   • 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Cameleon”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 133:

     It cannot be denied it [the chameleon] is (if not the moſt of any) a very abſtemious animall, and ſuch as by reaſon of its frigidity, paucity of bloud, and latitancy in the winter (about which time the obſervations are often made) will long ſubſist without a viſible ſuſtentation.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited.

   • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7:

     Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close […] above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them. Many insects probably use this strategy, which is a close analogy to crypsis in the visible world—camouflage and other methods for blending into one’s visual background.

• “visible”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “visible”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

visible (epicene, plural visibles)

1. visible (able to be seen)

Borrowed from Latin vīsibilis.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [biˈzib.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [viˈzib.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [viˈzi.ble]

visible m or f (masculine and feminine plural visibles)

1. visible

   Antonym: invisible

• visiblement

• visibilitat

• “visible”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

From Latin visibilis.

• IPA^(key): /vi.zibl/

• Audio:

  (file)

visible (plural visibles)

1. visible

• partie visible de l'iceberg
• visiblement

• “visible”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• visíbel

visible m or f (plural visibles)

1. visible

   Antonym: invisible

• visiblemente

• visibilidade

Late 12th century, borrowed from Latin visibilis.

visible m (oblique and nominative feminine singular visible)

1. visible (able to be seen)

Borrowed from Late Latin vīsibilis (“that may be seen”), from Latin vīsus, perfect passive participle of videō (“to see”).

• IPA^(key): /biˈsible/ [biˈsi.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -ible
• Syllabification: vi‧si‧ble

visible m or f (masculine and feminine plural visibles)

1. visible

   Antonym: invisible

• “visible”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024