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imperceptibly

adverbC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,444 of 15,258neutral

Imperceptibly means so slightly that nobody notices. The change happened and no single moment showed it.

It is used about gradual movement and gradual change, so a slope that rises imperceptibly or a mood that shifts imperceptibly. The word is a claim about the observer rather than the thing, since something imperceptible is real and simply below the threshold of noticing. Almost imperceptibly is even commoner than the bare adverb, which is a small logical oddity nobody minds.

Definitions of imperceptibly

  1. 1adverbimperceptiblyIn a way too slight to be noticed.C2

    “The road climbs almost imperceptibly for three miles.”

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *keh₂p-

  2. Medieval Latin

    imperceptibilis

  3. Middle French

    imperceptible

  4. Middle English

    imperceptible

  5. English

    imperceptible

  6. English, today

    imperceptibly

From imperceptible + -ly. 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

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 32 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

imperceptibly in the wild

  • In finance, the term "salami attack" is used to describe schemes by which large sums are fraudulently accumulated by repeated transfers of imperceptibly small sums of money.

    Salami slicing tactics

  • If one listens closely, however, this is seen to be an illusion, since patterns actually change form almost continuously, though nearly imperceptibly.

    Music in Twelve Parts

  • First described in 1915, species in the genus form thin, crust-like films that cling directly to rock or bark surfaces and fade imperceptibly into their surroundings.

    Antennulariella

  • The inlet is filled with ice and merges almost imperceptibly with the rising ice slopes of Alexander Island to the west.

    Kirwan Inlet

  • The under surface of the forewing is slightly glossy and the cell of the forewing almost imperceptibly tinged with yellow.

    Leuciacria

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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

imperceptibly — used about once every 54,060 pages · #14,444 · point at the bar for the others