Meaning & use
clarity
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Meanings
noununcountable
The quality of being easy to understand, with nothing confusing or vague.
Grammar: Uncountable: the report lacks clarity; no plural.
Patterns
- clarity of something
- with clarity
The teacher explained the rules with great clarity.
Her writing has a clarity that makes difficult subjects easy.
The contract needs more clarity about who pays for repairs.
noununcountable
The state of being clear to the eye, free from cloudiness or blur.
Grammar: Uncountable and used for physical things: the clarity of the water.
Patterns
- clarity of the water
- the clarity of the picture
The clarity of the lake water let us see the bottom.
The new screen offers excellent picture clarity.
Diamonds are graded for color, cut and clarity.
noununcountable
A calm, clear state of mind in which a person can think sensibly.
Grammar: Often follows a verb like gain or find: find clarity.
Patterns
- mental clarity
- gain clarity
A long walk gave him the clarity to make his choice.
She wanted a few quiet days to find clarity.
After the confusion, a moment of clarity came.
Common combinations
- clarity of thought
- Meditation helped her find clarity of thought.
- crystal clarity
- The speaker's argument had crystal clarity.
- lack clarity
- The instructions lack clarity.
- bring clarity
- The new evidence brought clarity to the case.
- picture clarity
- The camera produces remarkable picture clarity.
- moment of clarity
- In a moment of clarity, he realized the plan could not work.
Synonyms and how they differ
- clearness
- Clearness is a plainer and less common synonym that sounds less polished than clarity.
- lucidity
- Lucidity is more formal and stresses clear, logical thinking or speech.
- transparency
- Transparency focuses on being open or see-through, not on being easy to understand.
- precision
- Precision means exactness in detail, whereas clarity means being easy to understand.
Opposites
Word family
- clear adjective
- easy to see, hear or understand
- clearly adverb
- in an easy-to-understand way
- clarify verb
- to make something clearer
- clarification noun
- an explanation that removes confusion
Commonly confused: clarity or clarify? clarity or charity?
clarity vs clarify
Clarify is the verb meaning to make something clear, while clarity is the noun for the quality of being clear.
clarity vs charity
Charity means kindness or an organization that helps those in need, and is spelled and pronounced differently.
Practice
Which noun best completes the sentence? The manager spoke with such ___ that everyone knew exactly what to do.
Choose one answer.
Clarity means being easy to understand, which fits. Charity looks similar to clarity, but it is about generosity.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “clarity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.