plain as day

Idioms  

1. Also, plain as the nose on your face. Very obvious, quite clear, as in It's plain as day that they must sell their house before they can buy another, or It's plain as the nose on your face that she's lying. These similes have largely replaced the earlier plain as a packstaff or pikestaff, from the mid-1500s, alluding to the stick on which a peddler carried his wares over his shoulder. The first term, from the late 1800s, is probably a shortening of plain as the sun at midday; the variant dates from the late 1600s.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plain as day

This should be plain as day to anyone who cares to look and listen.

From Slate ● Jan. 20, 2026

Baker pushes the comedy, but, just as with Ani, the injustice of it all is plain as day.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2024

A nest box has been installed on the girder, and the Peregrine is sitting in it, plain as day.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 15, 2021

What's plain as day is that "FBoy Island" flaunts its identity as the messy, issues-burdened lovechild of dating app culture as brightly as a neon wristband.

From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2021

“Scrubbing down the joint,” he says plain as day.

From "The Skin I'm In" by Sharon G. Flake

Related Words

• conspicuous
• indisputable
• noticeable
• obvious
• palpable
• unmistakable
• visible