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ap·pear (ə-pîr)
Share:
intr.v. ap·peared, ap·pear·ing, ap·pears
1.
a. To become visible: a plane appearing in the sky.
b. To be shown or included: That logo appears on all their sports equipment.
2. To come into existence: New strains of viruses appear periodically.
3. To give the impression of being in a certain way; seem: The child appeared unhappy.
4. To be likely or evident: It appears that they will be late.
5. To come or perform before the public: has appeared in two plays.
6. Law To present oneself formally before a court as defendant, plaintiff, or counsel.
7. To be published or made available to the public: The novel first appeared in installments in a magazine.

[Middle English aperen, from Old French aparoir, aper-, from Latin appārēre : ad-, ad- + pārēre, to show.]

Synonyms: appear, emerge, issue, loom1, materialize, show
These verbs mean to come into view. Appear and show are the most general: A ship appeared on the horizon. Her shirtsleeve shows at the edge of her jacket.
Emerge indicates appearing after having been obscured from view by something: "Baby sea turtles emerged from the sand to scramble to the sea" (Julia Whitty).
Issue emphasizes the point of origin of whatever is appearing: "Here and there smoke issued from chimneys" (Jeffrey Tayler).
To loom is to come into view as a massive, distorted, or indistinct image, and often that which looms is considered threatening in some way: As the hikers near the mountain's summit, storm clouds loom over the horizon.
Materialize means to appear suddenly and sometimes mysteriously, as if out of nowhere: "The field ... had been empty the day before when he walked around the city. The circus has simply materialized" (Erin Morgenstern).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.