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imperceptible

adjectiveC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,443 of 15,258neutral

Imperceptible means too slight to be noticed. An imperceptible change, almost imperceptible, imperceptible to the eye.

It is nearly always softened to almost imperceptible, since if something truly were nobody could report it. It belongs to gradual change above all, which is where the eye is weakest.

Definitions of imperceptible

  1. 1adjectiveimperceptibleToo slight to be noticed.C2

    “The difference between the two shades of white was imperceptible to me.”

imperceptible is a quality.

Where it comes from

Medieval Latin imperceptibilis is in-, not, plus percipere, to perceive.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *keh₂p-

  2. Medieval Latin

    imperceptibilis

  3. Middle French

    imperceptible

  4. Middle English

    imperceptible

  5. English, today

    imperceptible

Middle English imperceptible, from Middle French imperceptible and its etymon Medieval Latin imperceptibilis. by surface analysis, im- + perceptible.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

imperceptible in the wild

  • As the two tones gradually approach unison, the beating slows down and may become so slow as to be imperceptible.

    Beat (acoustics)

  • However, the term applies when the appearance is so smooth that the breaks or gaps between tonal values are imperceptible.

    Continuous tone image

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.

Related words

the imperceptible family

imperceptiblyimperceptible

imperceptible — used about once every 54,060 pages · #14,443 · point at the bar for the others