conspicuous
adjective
Simple meaning
Obvious or easy to notice.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhnspikyoouhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kənsˈpɪkjuəs
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.
adjective
Obvious or easy to notice.
Noticeable or attracting attention, especially if unattractive.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Obvious or easy to notice.
Used this way, conspicuous is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use conspicuous
- “A tower conspicuous at a great distance.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
In a manner tending to attract attention.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Buying expensive services and products in order to flaunt your wealth.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: obvious or easy to notice
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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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.