Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

apparition

UK/ˌæp.əɹˈɪʃn̩/US/ˌæp.ɚˈɪʃ.n̩/
nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,229 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: apparitions

An apparition is a ghostly figure that appears suddenly. See an apparition, the apparition vanished, a pale apparition.

It is more formal and more visual than ghost: an apparition is specifically something seen. In Catholic usage, a Marian apparition is a reported appearance of the Virgin Mary, and a small number have been formally recognised after long investigation. Note apparent and appear, which are the same root; and that apparition is also used lightly of anybody who turns up unexpectedly looking strange.

Odilon Redon · Public domain

Definitions of apparition

  1. 1nounapparitionA ghostly figure that appears suddenly.C1

    “A pale apparition drifted along the corridor and vanished through the wall.”

apparition is a ghostly appearance.

Where it comes from

Latin apparitio comes from apparere, to appear — ad plus parere, to come into view. Apparition, apparent and appearance are the same verb, and only apparition acquired the ghosts.

  1. Latin

    apparitio

  2. Middle French

    apparition

  3. English, today

    apparition

From Middle French apparition, from Latin apparitio, from appareo.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Myths & Legends, Fairy Tales & Folklore

Practise this word

apparition in the wild

  • A Marian apparition is a reported supernatural appearance of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus.

    Marian apparition

  • If the person claims to hear Mary but not see her, this is known as an interior locution, not an apparition.

    Marian apparition

  • A Russian-style tiara was granted to the image, instead of the solar-type tiara used in the traditional depictions of Our Lady during her apparitions.

    Our Lady of La Salette

  • The work was published in 2 volumes that dealt with the extensive investigation into occult matters regarding the apparitions of angels, demons and other spirits.

    Traité sur les apparitions des esprits et sur les vampires ou les revenans de Hongrie, de Moravie, &c.

  • While a number of Marian apparitions are approved or received positive judgments, many receive no-decision or negative judgments from the church.

    List of Marian apparitions

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.