Etimology
From Middle English apperen, aperen, borrowed from Old French aparoir (French apparoir, apparaître), from Latin appāreō (“I appear”), from ad (“to”) + pāreō (“I come forth, I become visible”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-s- (“watch, see”), s-present of *peh₂- (“protect”).
verb
appear (third-person singular simple present appears, present participle appearing, simple past and past participle appeared)
(intransitive) To come or be in sight; to be in view; to become visible.
(intransitive) To come before the public.
(intransitive) To stand in presence of some authority, tribunal, or superior person, to answer a charge, plead a cause, etc.; to present oneself as a party or advocate before a court, or as a person to be tried.
(intransitive) To become visible to the apprehension of the mind; to be known as a subject of observation or comprehension, or as a thing proved; to be obvious or manifest.
(intransitive, copulative) To seem; to have a certain semblance; to look.
(transitive) To bring into view.
Examples
And God […] said, Let […] the dry land appear.
There were also particles no one had predicted that just appeared. Five of them […, i]n order of increasing modernity, […] are the neutrino, the pi meson, the antiproton, the quark and the Higgs boson.
A great writer appeared at that time.
Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.
We must all appear before the judgment seat.
One ruffian escaped because no prosecutor dared to appear.
It doth not yet appear what we shall be.
Of their vain contest appeared no end.
‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?
Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, […] .
He appeared quite happy with the result.
They disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast.
Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.
[Angelo] is yet a devil / His filth within being cast, he would appear / A pond as deep as hell.
Related words
synonyms
(to become visible): emerge; see also Thesaurus:appear
(to seem): look
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "to become visible"): disappear, vanish
related terms
appearance
apparent
appearer