apparition
noun
Simple meaning
An act of appearing or becoming visible unexpectedly.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
aperishuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
æpɚˈɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An act of appearing or becoming visible unexpectedly
“Natives were amazed at the apparition of this white stranger.”
An act of becoming visible; appearance; visibility.
The thing appearing; a visible object; a form.
An unexpected, wonderful, or preternatural appearance; especially, one by a ghost, phantom, or suchlike; the entity itself.
A ghostly appearing figure
“We were unprepared for the apparition that confronted us.”
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Rare
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An act of appearing or becoming visible unexpectedly
Used this way, apparition is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“Natives were amazed at the apparition of this white stranger.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “apparition of …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: apparition of …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Appearing / becomingnoun
“Natives were amazed at the apparition of this white stranger.”
Ghostlynoun
“We were unprepared for the apparition that confronted us.”
More ways to use apparition
- “We were unprepared for the apparition that confronted us.”noun
- “I was recalled to the present by the apparition of a frightening specter.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.