Standard Lemma guide

obviousness

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈɒ(b)viəsnɪs/
  • UK: /-ɪəs-/
  • UK: /-nəs/
  • US: /ˈɑ(b)viəsnɪs/
  • US: /-nəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The characteristic of being obvious.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the property of being easy to see and understand

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: noticeability, noticeableness, patency

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: conspicuousness

Narrower terms: apparentness, apparency, blatancy, predomination, predominance

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English obvious Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English obviousness From obvious + -ness.

Across languages

Translations

9 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: obvietat — characteristic of being obvious
  • Czech: zřejmost — characteristic of being obvious
  • Esperanto: evidenteco — characteristic of being obvious
  • French: évidence — characteristic of being obvious
  • Italian: ovvietà — characteristic of being obvious
  • Portuguese: obviedade — characteristic of being obvious
  • Spanish: obviedad — characteristic of being obvious
  • Turkish: aşikârlık — characteristic of being obvious
  • Turkish: besbellilik — characteristic of being obvious