# invisible

Pronunciation: say "in-VIZ-uh-bul" /ɪnˈvɪzəb(ə)l/

## Adjective

1. Unable to be seen; out of sight or otherwise not visible.
   - Simple: Not able to be seen with the eyes, and hidden from sight.
   - _Carbon monoxide is invisible and odorless, which makes it especially dangerous._
   - _From the valley floor, the summit remained invisible behind thick clouds._
2. Not appearing on the surface; present but hidden from outward view.
   - Simple: Hidden inside or underneath, so it does not show on the outside.
   - _Years of water damage remained invisible beneath the fresh paint._
   - _Much of a translator's skill is invisible to readers, who see only the finished prose._
3. Ignored or overlooked by a person, as if not seen or not present at all.
   - Simple: Treated as if you are not there and ignored by other people.
   - _After the merger, longtime staff felt invisible to the new management._
   - _Some customers treat waiters as if they were completely invisible._
4. Appearing to be offline on a messaging service or platform while actually online and connected.
   - Simple: Shown as offline in a chat app even though you are really online.
   - _He set his status to invisible and quietly read the group chat._
   - _Even though she appeared offline, she was just invisible and saw every message._

## Verb

5. To make invisible; to cause someone or something to go unseen or unnoticed.
   - Simple: To make a person or thing hidden or ignored, so others do not notice them.
   - _Glossy tourism brochures invisible the city's poorer neighborhoods._
   - _The official history invisibled the laborers who built the railway._

## Noun

6. A person or thing that cannot be seen; specifically, God, the Supreme Being. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A being or thing that cannot be seen, especially God.
   - _She prayed nightly to the Invisible for her son's safe return from the sea._
   - _The sermon urged the congregation to fear the Invisible more than any earthly king._
7. A Rosicrucian; so called because members of the order avoided revealing their affiliation with it. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A member of the Rosicrucians, a secret group whose members hid that they belonged to it.
   - _Rumor held that an invisible lived among the apothecaries, working cures by hidden arts._
   - _The pamphlet warned that thirty-six invisibles had arrived in Paris to spread their secret philosophy._
8. One of those, especially in the 16th century, who denied that the church is a visible institution, holding instead that the true church cannot be seen. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A person long ago who believed the true church was spiritual and could not be seen.
   - _As an invisible, he taught that no council or cathedral could contain the true church._
   - _The bishop denounced the invisibles for rejecting every form of organized worship._

## Origin

This word came through Middle English and Old French from Late Latin 'invīsibilis'. It is formed from 'in-' plus 'visible', and it replaced the native Old English word 'unġesewenlīċ'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/invisible (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).