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Synonyms

in plain sight

American  
[in pleyn sahyt] / ɪn ˈpleɪn ˈsaɪt /

idiom

  1. in a place or manner that is clearly visible.

    Some of your best home decor pieces are hiding in plain sight right in your kitchen.

    This cheat is operating in plain sight, fooling everybody and getting away with it.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In understanding why it did so, I tend to think its ultimate secret may be hiding in plain sight.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026

Zimbabwe's "multi-element" geology makes it easy for valuable minerals to be hidden in plain sight, he said.

From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026

Hiding in plain sight that night, among the patrons scattered throughout the museum, was photographer and activist Nan Goldin, along with several members of her advocacy group, P.A.I.N.

From Salon • Mar. 14, 2026

Over the past two decades, genetic research across many groups of animals, including insects, fish, birds, and mammals, suggests that a large number of species may be hiding in plain sight.

From Science Daily • Mar. 9, 2026

Nina’s mind was reeling—Bo Yul-Bayur, a Grisha hiding in plain sight behind the borders of the Shu Han.

From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.