# transparent

Pronunciation: US say "trans-PA-ruhnt" /tɹæn(t)sˈpæɹənt/; UK say "trans-PAIR-uhnt" /tɹæn(t)sˈpæɹənt/

## Adjective

1. Allowing light to pass through almost undisturbed, so that objects on the other side can be seen clearly.
   - Simple: Letting light pass through so you can clearly see what is behind it.
   - _The diver admired the transparent water of the tropical lagoon._
   - _Glass is transparent, which is why it makes such good windows._
2. Readily apparent; so obvious that the underlying truth or intent is plain to see.
   - Simple: So clear or plain that it is easy to see or understand.
   - _The salesman's flattery was transparent, and the customers saw right through it._
   - _Her transparent attempt to change the subject fooled no one._
3. Open and public, with practices and decisions visible to all, which reduces the chance of corruption.
   - Simple: Open and easy for everyone to see, so it is harder to hide wrongdoing.
   - _The company adopted transparent hiring practices that anyone could review._
   - _Citizens demanded a transparent investigation into the scandal._
4. Happening automatically or in the background, so that the operation goes unnoticed by the user.
   - Simple: Working quietly in the background, so that you do not notice it happening.
   - _The caching layer is transparent to the application, which behaves as if it were reading directly from disk._
   - _Encryption is transparent here, requiring no action from the user._
5. Of a graphical image, having areas that let whatever sits behind it show through.
   - Simple: Of a picture, having clear parts that let the background show through.
   - _Designers prefer a transparent PNG when the image must sit over varied backgrounds._
   - _The animated GIF had transparent regions that revealed the page color beneath._
6. Of a compression process, accurate enough that the compressed result is perceptually indistinguishable from the original input.
   - Simple: Of compressed sound or video, so close to the original that people cannot hear or see any difference.
   - _Engineers consider the codec transparent at 256 kbps for most listeners._
   - _The encoder produced a transparent result that testers could not tell apart from the source._

## Noun

7. A thing that lets light pass through, so that whatever lies behind it can be seen.
   - Simple: Anything that lets light through so you can see what is behind it.
   - _Held to the window, the colored sheet behaved as a transparent, casting the street view onto the floor._
   - _The collection displayed opaques and transparents side by side for comparison._
8. A parent who is transgender or transsexual. *(nonstandard)*
   - _He described himself as a transparent raising two teenagers on his own._
   - _The documentary followed several transparents and their families over a year._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–7** — Borrowed from Medieval Latin trānspārēns, the present participle of transpareō, formed from Latin trans plus pareō. It displaced the native Old English word þurhsīene.
**Meaning 8** — Formed from the prefix trans- ("transgender or transsexual") combined with parent.

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