Meaning & use
evident
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Meaning
adjectivecomparable
Clearly seen or understood; obvious from what can be observed.
Grammar: Follows a linking verb, not placed before a noun; use from for the source and to for the observer.
Patterns
- evident that
- evident from something
- evident to someone
It was evident that she had been crying.
His lack of experience was evident from the first interview.
The crack in the wall was clearly evident to the inspector.
Word forms
| comparative | more evident |
|---|---|
| superlative | most evident |
Common combinations
- evident that
- It soon became evident that nobody had read the instructions.
- evident from something
- Her relief was evident from the look on her face.
- evident to someone
- The damage was evident to everyone who visited the site.
- clearly/plainly evident
- The mayor's exhaustion was plainly evident during the press conference.
Synonyms and how they differ
- obvious
- Stronger and more common in everyday speech; evident sounds slightly more formal.
- apparent
- Suggests something seems true from what is seen, without full proof.
- clear
- A general word for easy to understand; evident often names the source (from) or the observer (to).
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: evident or evidence?
evident vs evidence
Evidence is the noun for the facts or signs; evident is the adjective meaning clearly shown by those facts.
Practice
It was evident ___ the empty seats that the show had sold poorly.
Choose one answer.
Evident from introduces the source of the knowledge (the empty seats). 'That' would need a full clause directly after evident (It was evident that sales were poor), and 'to' must be followed by a person.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “evident”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.