perspicuous

American  

[per-spik-yoo-uhs] / pərˈspɪk yu əs /

adjective

1. clearly expressed or presented; lucid.

   Synonyms:

   explicit, distinct, plain, intelligible

   Antonyms:

   indistinct, obscure

2. perspicacious.

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perspicuous British  

/ pəˈspɪkjʊəs /

adjective

1. (of speech or writing) easily understood; lucid

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Other Word Forms

• perspicuously adverb
• perspicuousness noun
• unperspicuous adjective
• unperspicuously adverb
• unperspicuousness noun

Etymology

Origin of perspicuous

First recorded in 1570–80; from Latin perspicuus “transparent, clearly visible,” equivalent to perspic(ere), “to look over, inspect, survey” (formed from preposition and prefix per, per- “through; thoroughly” + -spicere, combining form of specere “to see, observe, look”) + -uus adjective suffix; per-, inspect )

Example Sentences

But were Tagovailoa a combat sport athlete — a boxer or mixed martial artist — there would be a timeline for return as perspicuous as if he were found to be taking banned performance-enhancing drugs.

From Washington Post • Oct. 7, 2022

But where Hofstadter is playfully enigmatic and brashly brainy, Chalmers’s writing is perspicuous and teacherly — an approach that keeps it from collapsing into recalcitrant obscurity.

From Washington Post • Feb. 11, 2022

A perspicuous and painful study of a family that has risen from rags to wretchedness.

From Time Magazine Archive

In an unusually perspicuous article, excepting the vagaries of style considered essential to The Saturday Evening Post, Isaac F. Marcosson, famed cosmic journalist, discussed Britain's Labor regime.

From Time Magazine Archive

As a historian, the author is acute and perspicuous, judicious in the selection and arrangement of his materials, and clear and interesting in his narrative.

From The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 2, September, 1851 by Various