- clear
- clear adj 1 Clear, transparent, translucent, lucid, pellucid, diaphanous, limpid are comparable when they mean having the property of being literally or figuratively seen through.Something is clear which is free from all such impediments to the vision as clouds, mist, or haze{
clear air
}{a clear day
}or from muddiness, cloudiness, or turbidity{clear glass
}{clear crystals
}{the launch moved slowly through water clear as air— Nordhoff & Hall
}or from obscurity, vagueness, or indistinctness of any sort{clear thinking
}{a clear mind
}{a clear style
}{a clear vision of reality— Conrad
}Something is transparent which is either so clear or so thin that objects can be easily seen or perceived through it{the water ... is as transparent as the air, so that the stones and sand at the bottom seem, as it were, trembling in the light of noonday— Shelley
}{transparent gauze
}{guavas, with the shadows of their crimson pulp flushing through a transparent skin— Melville
}{rushing away from the discussion on the transparent pretense of quieting the dog— Conrad
}{his writings . . . are so flat, so transparent, so palpably taken from the nearest authorities— H. O. Taylor
}Something is translucent which admits the passage of light through it but which does not permit a clear sight of what lies beyond{frosted glass is translucent
}{under the glassy, cool, translucent wave— Milton
}{translucent amber that cages flies— Wylie
}{translucent phrases, which mirror ... the woodland lights and shadows— L. P. Smith
}Something is lucid (see CLEAR 2) which is both transparent and luminous; this use is chiefly literary{gods, who haunt the lucid interspace of world and world where never creeps a cloud, or moves a wind— Tennyson
}{the thought may be obscure, but the word is lucid, or rather translucent— T. S. Eliot
}Something is pellucid which is clear as crystal{more pellucid streams, an ampler ether, a diviner air— Wordsworth
}{[Goldsmith's] pellucid simplicity— Harrison
}Something is diaphanous which is so delicate and gossamerlike in texture that it is almost transparent or is actually translucent{a diaphanous veil
}{I like diaphanous illusions, with the shapes of things as they are showing not too faintly through them— L. P. Smith
}Something is limpid which has the soft clearness of or as if of pure water{the whole atmosphere has a luminous serenity, a limpid clearness— Ward
}{that . . . simple, limpid style which is the supreme style of all— Arnold
}{Archer's New York ... in busi-ness matters . . . exacted a limpid and impeccable honesty— Wharton
}Antonyms: turbid: confusedContrasted words: dim, obscure, murky, dusky, gloomy (see DARK): muddy, roily (see TURBID): muddled, addled, fuddled, befuddled (see CONFUSE)2 Clear, perspicuous, lucid are comparable, as used in reference to qualities of thought or style with the meaning, quickly and easily understood.Clear implies freedom from obscurity, ambiguity, or the danger of being misunderstood{"many are called," there is a clear truth: "few are chosen," there is an obscure truth— Arnold
}{there are more obscure poems written and printed every year than clear ones— R. B. West
}Perspicuous lays more stress than clear upon the medium of expression regarded for itself; it frequently connotes a certain simplicity and elegance of style{extreme conciseness of expression, yet pure, perspicuous, and musical, is one of the grand beauties of lyric poetry— Gray
}{the ode is not wholly perspicuous. Wordsworth himself seems to have thought it difficult— Trilling
}Lucid especially implies clearness of order or arrangement{he thought little of recasting a chapter in order to obtain a more lucid arrangement— G. O. Trevelyan
}{his descriptions of the most complicated organic structures are astonishingly lucid— Huxley
}Antonyms: unintelligible: abstruseContrasted words: vague, *obscure, ambiguous, equivocal, cryptic, enigmatic: turgid, tumid (see INFLATED): *recondite, occult, esoteric3 manifest, *evident, obvious, distinct, apparent, patent, palpable, plainContrasted words: *doubtful, dubious, questionable, problematicclear vb *rid, unburden, disabuse, purge
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
