MEANING
1. A state in which something cannot be detected by sight.
2. Lack of notice, recognition, or consideration within a social or institutional context.
Use it for
describing limits on direct visual observation; distinguishing what cannot be seen from what does not exist; explaining a visual property relative to viewing conditionsSeparates literal inability to see something from its absence in recognition or attention. Academic functions: Significance / Scope, Analysis / Interpretation.
Words that belong together
- invisibility to the eye
- optical invisibility
- apparent invisibility
On the page
The object’s apparent invisibility depends on the viewing conditions rather than proving its absence.
The account distinguishes invisibility to the eye from detection through another instrument.
The analysis links the invisibility of unpaid work in the accounts to decisions about what is counted.
The critic explores the invisibility of minor characters whose labor sustains the central plot.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- invisibility
Usage notes
Uncountable noun: invisibility of an object, activity, or group. No routine plural. Register: formal. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.