apparition

From Middle French apparition, from Latin apparitio, from appareo.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌæp.əɹˈɪʃn̩/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌæp.ɚˈɪʃ.n̩/, /ˌæp.ɚˈɪ.ʃən/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

apparition (plural apparitions)

1. An act of becoming visible; appearance; visibility.
   • 1855–1858, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC:

     the sudden apparition of the Spaniards

   • 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh:  […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:

     The apparition of Lawyer Clippurse occasioned much speculation in that portion of the world.

2. The thing appearing; a visible object; a form.
   • 1709 August 27 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Richard Steele et al.], “Tuesday, August 16, 1709”, in The Tatler, number 55; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume I, London: I. Walker and Co.;  […], 1822, →OCLC:

     […] which apparition, it seems, was you.

3. An unexpected, wonderful, or preternatural appearance; especially something such as a ghost or phantom.

   The attic is haunted by the ghostly apparition of a young girl who died there.

   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     I think it is the weakness of mine eyes / That shapes this monstrous apparition.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     The heavenly bands […] a glorious apparition.

   • 1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 24:

     The apparition wobbled in front of Arthur's eyes, though the truth of the matter is probably that Arthur's eyes were wobbling in front of the apparition.

4. (astronomy) The first appearance of a star or other luminary after having been invisible or obscured; opposed to occultation.
5. (astronomy) A period of consecutive days or nights when a particular celestial body may be observed, beginning with the heliacal rising of the body and ending with its heliacal setting.

• (act of becoming visible): appearance
• (a preternatural appearance): vision
• See also Thesaurus:ghost

• apparent
• appearance

From Latin appāritiōnem.

• IPA^(key): /a.pa.ʁi.sjɔ̃/

• audio (une apparition)

  (file)

apparition f (plural apparitions)

1. appearance
2. ghost

   Synonym: fantôme

3. (baseball) plate appearance

   Synonyms: apparition au bâton, présence, présence au bâton

• faire son apparition

• “apparition”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.