obvious

ob·vi·ous
O1B3V4I1O1U1S1
US/ˈɑb.vi.əs/US, informal/ˈɑ.vi.əs/UK/ˈɒ.vɪəs/UK/ˈɒb.vɪəs/

adjective

Easily discovered, seen, or understood; self-explanatory.

CommonScrabble 12

Meanings

adjectiveobvious (comparative more obvious, superlative most obvious)

comparative more obvious · superlative most obvious

  1. Easily discovered, seen, or understood; self-explanatory.

    'Cause I threw you the obvious / to see what occurs behind / the eyes of a fallen angel / Eyes of a tragedy / Oh well, oh well / Apparently nothing / Apparently nothing at all

    2000, “3 Libras”, performed by A Perfect Circle
    4 more examples

    Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. It is easily earned repetition to state that Josephine St. Auban's was a presence not to be concealed.

    1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

    During the first year or so of British Railways, some of the simpler and more obvious inter-regional transfers of outlying sections were effected, such as those of the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway from the London Midland Region to the Eastern Region; the South Wales lines of the former L.M.S.R. to the Western Region; the Carlisle-Silloth branch (an L.N.E.R. legacy of a North British "border raid") to the London Midland, and so on.

    1951 April, D. S. Barrie, “British Railways: A Survey, 1948-1950”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 224

    One of the most obvious results of the B.R. Modernisation Plan has been the increasing use of diesel and electric traction; a less obvious by-product is the increase in track damage possible with the new forms of traction.

    1961 February, R. K. Evans, “The role of research on British Railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 92

    It is not obvious, to economists anyway, that cities should exist at all. Crowds of people mean congestion and costly land and labour. But there are also well-known advantages to bunching up. When transport costs are sufficiently high a firm can spend more money shipping goods to clusters of consumers than it saves on cheap land and labour.

    2013 August 17, “Down towns”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8849, archived from the original on 26 Oct 2013

    Synonyms: apparent, arrant, undoubted, glaring, bait, blatant, clear, clear as a bell

Synonyms & antonyms

More synonyms by meaning

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

16th century, from Latin obvius (“being in the way so as to meet, meeting, easy to access, at hand, ready, obvious”) + -ous, from ob- (“before”) + via (“way”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic بَدِيهِيّ, بَدَهِيّ
  • بَدِيهِيّ (badīhiyy)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • بَدَهِيّ (badahiyy)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • وَاضِح (wāḍiḥ)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • مُبِين (mubīn)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • بَيِّن (bayyin)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Basque ageriko
  • agerikoeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Bulgarian очеви́ден
  • очеви́ден (očevíden)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Catalan obvi
  • obvieasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Chinese Cantonese 明顯 /明显
  • 明顯 /明显 (ming⁴ hin²)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Chinese Mandarin 明顯 /明显, 顯然 /显然
  • 明顯 /明显 (míngxiǎn)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • 顯然 /显然 (xiǎnrán)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • 顯而易見 /显而易见 (xiǎn'éryìjiàn)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • 明擺著 /明摆著 (míngbǎizhe)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • 明摆着 (míngbǎizhe)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Czech zřejmý, samozřejmý
  • zřejmýeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • samozřejmýeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Danish tydelig, åbenbar
  • tydeligeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • åbenbareasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • oplagteasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • indlysendeeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • åbenlyseasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Dutch overduidelijk, voor de hand liggend
  • overduidelijkeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • voor de hand liggendeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • voordehandliggendeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Esperanto evidenta
  • evidentaeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Estonian selge, ilmselge
  • selgeeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • ilmselgeeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Finnish ilmeinen, ilmiselvä
  • ilmeineneasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • ilmiselväeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • itsestäänselväeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
French évident
  • évidenteasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
German offensichtlich, selbstverständlich
  • offensichtlicheasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • selbstverständlicheasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • deutlicheasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • überdeutlicheasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • offenbareasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • evidenteasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Greek προφανής
  • προφανής (profanís)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Hebrew מוּבָן מֵאֵלָיו
  • מוּבָן מֵאֵלָיו (muván meeláv)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Hindi प्रत्यक्ष
  • प्रत्यक्ष (pratyakṣ)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Hungarian nyilvánvaló, egyértelmű
  • nyilvánvalóeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • egyértelműeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • kézenfekvőeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • magától értetődőeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Icelandic augljós, bersýnilegur
  • augljóseasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • bersýnilegureasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Irish soiléir, follasach
  • soiléireasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • follasacheasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Italian ovvio, evidente
  • ovvioeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • evidenteeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • paleseeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Japanese 当たり前, 明らか
  • 当たり前 (atarimae)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • 明らか (akiraka)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Korean 당연(當然)하다, 뻔하다
  • 당연(當然)하다 (dang'yeonhada)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • 뻔하다 (ppeonhada)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Latin perspicuus, manifestus
  • perspicuuseasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • manifestuseasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Latvian acīm redzams
  • acīm redzamseasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Lithuanian akivaizdus
  • akivaizduseasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Māori mārama, tīahoaho
  • māramaeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • tīahoahoeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • ariarieasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • pūrangiahoeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Norwegian opplagt, innlysende
  • opplagteasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • innlysendeeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Polish oczywisty
  • oczywistyeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Portuguese óbvio
  • óbvioeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Romanian evident, clar
  • evidenteasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • clareasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • limpedeeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • văditeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Russian очеви́дный
  • очеви́дный (očevídnyj)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Spanish obvio, evidente
  • obvioeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • evidenteeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Swedish tydlig, uppenbar
  • tydligeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • uppenbareasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Tagalog kanawa-nawa
  • kanawa-nawaeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Turkish belli, açık
  • bellieasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • açıkeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • belirgineasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • barizeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • neteasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • aşikareasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Ukrainian очеви́дний, я́вний
  • очеви́дний (očevýdnyj)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
  • я́вний (jávnyj)easily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Welsh amlwg
  • amlwgeasily discovered or understood; self-explanatory
Cite this entry
APA

obvious. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/obvious

MLA

“obvious.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/obvious. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “obvious,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/obvious.

Source: obvious on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.