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Obviousness

   Also found in: Medical, Legal, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
ob·vi·ous  (bv-s)
adj.
1. Easily perceived or understood; quite apparent. See Synonyms at apparent.
2. Easily seen through because of a lack of subtlety; transparent: an obvious political ploy.
3. Archaic Standing in the way or in front.

[From Latin obvius, from obviam, in the way, within reach : ob-, against; see ob- + viam, accusative sing. of via, way; see wegh- in Indo-European roots.]

obvi·ous·ly adv.
obvi·ous·ness n.

Obviousness 

See Also: CLARITY, VISIBILITY

  1. (The magnificence of the Ambersons was) as conspicuous as a brass band at a funeral —Booth Tarkington
  2. As conspicuous … as a butterfly among moths —George Feifer
  3. As conspicuous as a second nose —Mike Sommer
  4. As conspicuous as two fleas in a glass of milk, and about as welcome —Rosa Guy
  5. Blatant as a slammed door —George Garrett
  6. Her face was as easy to read as a crooked optometrist’s chart —Loren D. Estleman
  7. It was written all over him [that he was prone to trouble] in letters like headlines —William Humphrey
  8. Magnificence, like the size of a fortune, is always comparative —Booth Tarkington
  9. Noticeable as perfume —Wallace Stegner
  10. (The film has a payoff that’s as) obvious as a cream pie in the face —Gene Siskel, television review, October 13, 1986
  11. Obvious as a gesture —Stephen Crane
  12. Obvious as an elephant’s footprint —Anon
  13. (Those two guys can’t move around … without being) obvious as turds on butcher blocks —Harold Adams
  14. Obvious, like a poster forty feet high —J. B. Priestly
  15. (Her thoughts and her emotions had all been) outspread … like jewels —Edith Wharton
  16. Plain as a pig on a sofa —Flannery O’Connor
  17. (The case was as) plain as a pikestaff —Arthur Train
  18. Plain as graffiti on a brick wall —Elyse Sommer
  19. Plain as the nose on a man’s face —Rabelais

    A variation by Robert Burton: “As clear and as manifest as the nose on a man’s face.”

  20. Plain as the paint on a whore’s face —Stephen Longstreet
  21. Stick out like a pregnant woman’s stomach —Anon
  22. (He was) subtle as a salvo —Jonathan Gash
  23. There’s no one so transparent as the person who thinks he’s devilish deep —W. Somerset Maugham
  24. Transparent as water in a goldfish bowl —Anon
  25. Unobtrusive as the roar of a lion —Erich Maria Remarque

Obviousness 

plain as a pikestaff Plain as day, obvious, clear-cut, evident. This proverbial expression, dating from the late 16th century, is a variant of the earlier, now obsolete, plain as a packstaff. The allusion is to the simple style and plain, smooth surface of a pikestaff, a type of walking stick with a metal point at the lower end.

The evidence against him was as plain as a pikestaff. (Anthony Trollope, The Last Chronicle of Barset, 1867)

plain as the nose on your face Exceedingly obvious; extremely conspicuous. This concept was conveyed by Shakespeare in The Two Gentlemen of Verona:

Oh jest unseen, inscrutable, invisible, As a nose on a man’s face, or a weathercock on a steeple. (II, i)

The expression, clearly derived from the prominence of the nose on the human face, has maintained common usage through the centuries.

It is as plain as the nose on your face that there’s your origin. (Thomas Hardy, Pair Blue Eyes, 1873)

point-blank See CANDIDNESS.

ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.obviousness - the property of being easy to see and understand
conspicuousness - high visibility
apparency, apparentness - the property of being apparent
blatancy - the property of being both obvious and offensive; "the blatancy of his attempt to whitewash the crime was unforgivable"
predominance, predomination - the quality of being more noticeable than anything else; "the predomination of blues gave the painting a quiet tone"
Translations
obviousness [ˈɒbviəsnɪs] n [answer, solution, idea] → caractère m évident
obviousness
nOffensichtlichkeit f, → Deutlichkeit f; amused by the obviousness of his replybelustigt über die Eindeutigkeit or Plumpheit seiner Antwort


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It never entered my head to be on my guard against his warmth and his terrible obviousness.
This was an airy generalization drawn from the particular case of Captain MacWhirr's honesty, which, in itself, had the heavy obviousness of a lump of clay.
It seemed to me that, were I a gentleman like him, I would take to my bosom only such a wife as I could love; but the very obviousness of the advantages to the husband's own happiness offered by this plan convinced me that there must be arguments against its general adoption of which I was quite ignorant: otherwise I felt sure all the world would act as I wished to act.
 
 
 
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