Apparently means from what it looks or sounds like — so people say. Apparently he has left, apparently not, apparently it is closed.
It marks information you have second-hand and are not vouching for, which makes it one of the most useful hedges in spoken English. It can also mean plainly or visibly, which is nearly the opposite — apparently healthy — and that older sense survives mainly in formal writing. Note apparent, meaning both obvious and seeming, which carries the same double life, and heir apparent, where apparent means beyond doubt.
1adverbapparentlyFrom what people say or what it seems.
“Apparently the whole street was flooded.”
synonyms: seemingly, evidently
2adverbfarAs far as can be seen, though possibly not really.
“He was apparently calm and his hands were shaking.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
apparently is a way of reporting.
Also accepted in games: seemingly
Proto-Indo-European
*peh₂-
Latin
appārēns
Old French
aparent
Middle English
apparaunt
English
apparent
English, today
apparently
From apparent + -ly. apparent comes 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