English

Adjective

invisible ‎(not comparable)

1. Unable to be seen; out of sight; not visible.
   • John Milton

     To us invisible, or dimly seen / In these thy lowest works.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:

     The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. […] Their example was followed by others at a time when the master of Mohair was superintending in person the docking of some two-year-olds, and equally invisible.

   • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 206-7:

     Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.

   • 2013, Jayne Smith, Guide to Basic Garment Assembly for the Fashion Industry (page 60)

     The teeth on an invisible zip are different from those on a conventional zip, as they are turned onto the inside so that they do not show, giving the impression of being concealed in the seam, as seen below.

2. Not appearing on the surface.
3. (Internet) Apparently, but not actually, offline.

   I went invisible so that my ex-girlfriend wouldn't send me instant messages.‎

4. (psychology) That is ignored by a person.

Synonyms

• (not appearing on the surface): hidden, latent

Antonyms

• visible
• apparent

Related terms

• invisibility
• invisibilize
• invisibleness
• invisibly
• (unable to see): blind

Translations

Verb

invisible ‎(third-person singular simple present invisibles, present participle invisibling, simple past and past participle invisibled)

1. To invisiblize.
   • 2007, Rachael Davenhill, Looking into Later Life

     In the next section I look at some of the factors that contribute to the “invisibling” of people in later life in terms of the marginalization and splitting that occurs in providing decent psychological as well as physical care.

Noun

invisible ‎(plural invisibles)

1. (obsolete) An invisible person or thing; specifically, God, the Supreme Being.
2. (obsolete) A Rosicrucian; so called because avoiding declaration of his craft.
3. (obsolete) One of those (as in the 16th century) who denied the visibility of the church.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shipley to this entry?)

Asturian

Adjective

invisible (epicene, plural invisibles)

1. invisible (unable to be seen)

Catalan

Adjective

invisible m, f ‎(masculine and feminine plural invisibles)

1. invisible

Antonyms

• visible

Derived terms

• invisiblement

French

Pronunciation

Adjective

invisible m, f ‎(plural invisibles)

1. invisible (unable to be seen)
2. invisible (not appearing on the surface)

Synonyms

• (not appearing on the surface): caché

Antonyms

• visible

Derived terms

• invisiblement

Galician

Alternative forms

• invisíbel

Adjective

invisible m, f (plural invisibles)

1. invisible

Antonyms

• visible

Derived terms

• invisiblemente

Old French

Etymology

First recorded in the 13th century. Borrowing from Late Latin invīsibilis.

Adjective

invisible m ‎(oblique and nominative feminine singular invisible)

1. invisible (not able to be seen)

References

• (fr) Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (invisible, supplement)

Spanish

Adjective

invisible m, f ‎(plural invisibles)

1. invisible

Antonyms

• visible

Related terms

• visión
• vista