Meanings
comparative more conspicuous · superlative most conspicuous
- Obvious or easy to notice.
He was conspicuous by his absence.
2 more examples
“No, don't,” replied the superintendent; “in fact, I'd rather you made yourself conspicuous elsewhere. Go down to the landing stage and cross to New Brighton or Wallasey—doesn't matter which—and come back. No doubt you will be seen, and reported to have gone across.”
1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 7, in Well Tackled![...] 1. Handsignalmen, where needed, ought to wear a conspicuous orange/yellow cape (like many road workmen) to draw attention to them.
1964 April, “Letters: Rethinking emergency procedures”, in Modern Railways, page 274Synonyms: apparent, evident, pointed, observable, perceivable, apparent, arrant, undoubted · Antonyms: inconspicuous
- Noticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive.
He had a conspicuous lump on his forehead.
1 more example
For his height he had a small face. The combination made him conspicuous.
1969, Saul Bellow, Mr Sammler's Planet, Penguin Books Ltd, page 6Synonyms: attention-grabbing, flashy, prominent · Antonyms: inconspicuous
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveObvious or easy to notice.
adjectiveNoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveobvious to the eye or mind
adjectivewithout any attempt at concealment; completely obvious
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinconspicuus“visible, striking”
- Englishconspicuous
From Latin conspicuus (“visible, striking”), from cōnspicere (“to notice”), from con- (“with, together”) + specere (“to look at”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans opvallende
- opvallendeobvious or easy to notice
Ancient Greek περιφανής, ἀριφᾰνής
- περιφανής (periphanḗs)obvious or easy to notice
- ἀριφᾰνής (ariphănḗs)obvious or easy to notice
Bulgarian очевиден, забележим
- очевиден (očeviden)obvious or easy to notice
- забележим (zabeležim)obvious or easy to notice
- биещ на очи (biešt na oči)noticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Chinese Mandarin 顯眼 /显眼, 招眼
- 顯眼 /显眼 (xiǎnyǎn)obvious or easy to notice
- 招眼 (zhāoyǎn)noticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Czech nápadný, nápadný
- nápadnýobvious or easy to notice
- nápadnýnoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Danish påfaldende, påfaldende
- påfaldendeobvious or easy to notice
- påfaldendenoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- iøjnefaldendenoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Dutch opvallend, afzichtelijk
- opvallendobvious or easy to notice
- afzichtelijknoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Esperanto okulfrapa
- okulfrapaobvious or easy to notice
Estonian silmatorkav, silmatorkav
- silmatorkavobvious or easy to notice
- silmatorkavnoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Finnish silmäänpistävä, huomiota herättävä
- silmäänpistäväobvious or easy to notice
- huomiota herättäväobvious or easy to notice
- silmäänpistävänoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
French qui se remarque aisément, visible
- qui se remarque aisémentobvious or easy to notice
- visibleobvious or easy to notice
- voyantobvious or easy to notice
- remarquableobvious or easy to notice
- qui attire l'attentionnoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
German auffällig, augenfällig
- auffälligobvious or easy to notice
- augenfälligobvious or easy to notice
- offensichtlichobvious or easy to notice
- sichtbarobvious or easy to notice
- hervorstechendobvious or easy to notice
- augenscheinlichobvious or easy to notice
- offenkundigobvious or easy to notice
- auffällignoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- auffallendnoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- spürbarnoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- sichtbarnoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- wahrnehmbarnoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Hebrew בולט
- בולט (bolet')noticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Hindi विचक्षण
- विचक्षण (vicakṣaṇ)obvious or easy to notice
Hungarian nyilvánvaló, jól látható
- nyilvánvalóobvious or easy to notice
- jól láthatóobvious or easy to notice
- feltűnőnoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- szembetűnőnoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- szembeszökőnoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- szembeötlőnoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- jól láthatónoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Italian evidente, lampante
- evidenteobvious or easy to notice
- lampanteobvious or easy to notice
- notevolenoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- vistosonoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Korean 눈에띄다, 뽐내다
- 눈에띄다 (nun-e ttuida)obvious or easy to notice
- 뽐내다 (ppomnaeda)noticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- 젠체하다 (jenche-hada)noticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Latin conspicuus, insignis
- conspicuusobvious or easy to notice
- insignisobvious or easy to notice
- conspicuusnoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Māori tiori, wana
- tioriobvious or easy to notice
- wanaobvious or easy to notice
- tiwhaobvious or easy to notice
- kōhureobvious or easy to notice
- pīrataobvious or easy to notice
- tiorinoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- kanapanoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- kōhurenoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Norwegian Bokmål påfallende, åpenbar
- påfallendeobvious or easy to notice
- åpenbarobvious or easy to notice
- iøynefallendenoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Polish widoczny, zauważalny
- widocznyobvious or easy to notice
- zauważalnyobvious or easy to notice
- rzucający się w oczyobvious or easy to notice
- niezwykłynoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- rażącynoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Portuguese conspícuo, proeminente
- conspícuoobvious or easy to notice
- proeminenteobvious or easy to notice
- conspícuonoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- proeminentenoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- salientenoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Russian очеви́дный, выделя́ющийся
- очеви́дный (očevídnyj)obvious or easy to notice
- выделя́ющийся (vydeljájuščijsja)noticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- заме́тный (zamétnyj)noticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- бро́ский (bróskij)noticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Spanish conspicuo, llamativo
- conspicuoobvious or easy to notice
- llamativoobvious or easy to notice
- ilustreobvious or easy to notice
- notorioobvious or easy to notice
- ostentosoobvious or easy to notice
- conspicuonoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- llamativonoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Swedish iögonfallande, påfallande
- iögonfallandeobvious or easy to notice
- påfallandeobvious or easy to notice
- uppenbarobvious or easy to notice
- markantobvious or easy to notice
- slåendeobvious or easy to notice
Thai โดดเด่น, โดดเด่น
- โดดเด่น (dòot-dèen)obvious or easy to notice
- โดดเด่น (dòot-dèen)noticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Turkish bariz, belli
- barizobvious or easy to notice
- belliobvious or easy to notice
- dikkat çekennoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
- göze çarpannoticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive
Yiddish אויגן־רײַסיק
- אויגן־רײַסיק (oygn-raysik)obvious or easy to notice
Cite this entry
conspicuous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/conspicuous
“conspicuous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/conspicuous. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “conspicuous,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/conspicuous.
Source: conspicuous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.