Dictionary entry

Conspicuous

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Con‐spic″u‐ous (?), a. [L. conspicuus, fr. conspicere to get sight of, to perceive; con- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy] 1. Open to the view; obvious to the eye; easy to be seen; plainly visible; manifest; attracting the eye.

It was a rock

Of alabaster, piled up to the clouds,

Conspicious far.

Milton.

Conspicious by her veil and hood,

Signing the cross, the abbess stood.

Sir W. Scott.

2. Obvious to the mental eye; easily recognized; clearly defined; notable; prominent; eminent; distinguished; as, a conspicuous excellence, or fault.

A man who holds a conspicuous place in the political, ecclesiastical, and literary history of England.

Macaulay.

Syn. — Distinguished; eminent; famous; illustrious; prominent; celebrated. See Distinguished.

— Con‐spic″u‐ous‐ly, adv. — Con‐spic″u‐ous‐ness, n.