perspicuous

English

Etymology

From Latin perspicuus, in turn from perspiciō (“see through”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pəˈspɪkjuːəs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɚˈspɪkjuːəs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

perspicuous (comparative more perspicuous, superlative most perspicuous)

1. Clearly expressed, easy to understand; lucid.

   Synonyms: transparent, pervious; see also Thesaurus:comprehensible

   Antonyms: see Thesaurus:incomprehensible

   • 1776, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter 4:

     I am always willing to run some hazard of being tedious in order to be sure that I am perspicuous […]

2. (logic) (Of a language or notation) the process of inference from premises to conclusion is explicitly laid out.
3. (literal, rare) That can be seen through clearly; that lets light through.

   Synonyms: transparent, see-through; translucent; see also Thesaurus:transparent

   Antonyms: imperspicuous; see also Thesaurus:opaque

Derived terms

• perspicuously
• perspicuousness

Related terms

• perspective
• perspicacious
• perspicaciously
• perspicacity
• perspicuity

Translations

clearly expressed

Bulgarian: ясен (bg) (jasen), прегледен (bg) (pregleden), разбираем (bg) (razbiraem) Chinese: Mandarin: 明白 (zh) (mingbai) Dutch: duidelijk (nl), begrijpelijk (nl), klaar (nl) Greek: σαφής (el) (safís) Korean: 명백한 (myeongbaekhan) Latin: perspicuus Norwegian: Bokmål: tydelig (no) Russian: ясный (ru) (jasnyj), понятный (ru) (ponjatnyj), чёткий (ru) (čótkij) Spanish: perspicuo (es)

logic: explicitly laid out

Bulgarian: експлицитен (bg) (ekspliciten)

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “perspicuous”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.