Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Appearance in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels appearance as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913noun
Appearance

[F. apparence, L. apparentia, fr. apparere. See Appear.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordappearance
Part of speechnoun
Historical etymology[F. apparence, L. apparentia, fr. apparere. See Appear.]
Selected historical definitionThe act of appearing or coming into sight; the act of becoming visible to the eye; as, his sudden appearance surprised me.
Signed record IDwebster1913-appearance-noun-2da71260bfe2
Source locatorCIDE.A, paragraph 9995; Gutenberg eBook 660
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 660Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "appearance" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[F. apparence, L. apparentia, fr. apparere. See Appear.]" The selected historical definition says: "The act of appearing or coming into sight; the act of becoming visible to the eye; as, his sudden appearance surprised me."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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