Apparent means plain to see. The damage was apparent the moment they opened the door, and it soon became apparent that nobody had brought a key.
Then the word turns on you. Apparent also means only seeming, as in her apparent calm or the apparent cause of the crash, where the writer is quietly warning you that the surface may not be the truth. Which sense you get depends on the sentence: "it became apparent" is always the obvious one, while apparent sitting in front of a noun leans towards the doubtful one. The adverb apparently nearly always carries the doubt, so "apparently she's moving to Spain" means someone told me and I am not vouching for it. Two set phrases are worth keeping whole: for no apparent reason, and heir apparent, the person whose turn is certain.
1adjectiveapparentEasy to see or understand; obvious.
“It was apparent from her face that the news was bad.”
synonyms: evident, obvious, clear
2adjectiveseemingSeeming to be true, though perhaps not.
“Their apparent agreement fell apart as soon as the details came up.”
synonyms: seeming, outward
Also accepted in games: evident
It came through Old French aparent from Latin apparens, the present participle of appareo, to come into sight. So what is apparent is what has stepped into view, and the doubtful sense grew from exactly that: appearing is not the same as being.
Proto-Indo-European
*peh₂-
Latin
appārēns
Old French
aparent
Middle English
apparaunt
English, today
apparent
From Middle English apparaunt, aparaunt, from Old French aparent, aparant, in turn from Latin appārēns, present participle of appāreō.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA