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seemingly

A2
Common

Pronunciation

UK

  • /sˈiːmɪŋli/

US

  • /ˈsimɪŋli/

Meanings

Adverb

  1. in a way that appears to be true, although it may not actually be so

Beyond the definition

"Seemingly" describes something that appears to be true, but may not actually be so. It points to a first impression that could be misleading. Think of a calm lake: it may look peaceful, but strong currents could be moving beneath the surface.

You would use "seemingly" when you want to say that something looks one way while hinting that there may be more to the story. For example: "The problem was seemingly simple but turned out to be much harder." Or, "He was a seemingly kind man, but later people saw another side of him." It's like saying "it looks like..." with a touch of caution.

Examples

  1. 1

    Hidden difficulty

    It was a seemingly simple problem, but it took hours to fix.

  2. 2

    Apparent connection

    The two stories were seemingly unrelated.

  3. 3

    Emotional reaction

    She listened quietly, seemingly unfazed by the bad news.

  4. 4

    Awareness

    The child kept drawing, seemingly unaware that dinner was ready.

More examples
  1. 5

    Sudden change

    The company was doing well, then seemingly overnight it lost half its customers.

    • Phraseseemingly overnight

      very quickly, in a way that felt sudden

  2. 6

    Missing reason

    He left the team for seemingly no reason.

  3. 7

    Small choices

    The novel shows how seemingly small choices can change a person's life.

See also

Similar

Shades of meaning

Contrast

Used with (collocations)

  • seemingly impossible
  • seemingly unrelated
  • seemingly endless
  • seemingly at random

Word family

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Forms and spellings

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Main spelling

  • seeminglyadverb