Definition of "Appearance"

The appearance definition isn’t as one might expect. The term itself is used in different ways, but they all are connected with perception or how something or someone is seen or perceived by another party. While appearance is also used to state the physical location, arrival, or presence of someone, for example, someone making an appearance by showing up in a particular place, the word is most often used from a philosophical perspective.

What is the Definition of Appearance?

The most well-grounded definition of appearance is the one that limits the term appearance into the physical. The act or fact of appearing is used to describe someone’s physical appearance in front of the eye and the mind of the public. This same meaning is often used as a term in legal practices for someone coming into a court proceeding.

However, going into the less grounded meanings and uses of the word, we get into the philosophical explanation. The term appearance, in philosophy, regards something or someone that seems to be based on the perception of a thing and not its objective reality. 

Through philosophy, the term appearance is used in contradiction with reality. From the cosmologies that governed Asia Minor to Plato, Kant, and Indian philosophy, there was a distinguishable difference between appearance and reality, the first not being a synonym of the other but, in a way, its opposite. The reason for that is that appearance is based on our perception of the truth, while the reality is based on facts and logic. Because of that, today’s usage of the term appearance is split. On the one hand, we have the physical appearance as presence; on the other, we have the manner, condition, state of appearance based on perception.

Some synonyms of the word appearance are air, aspect, arrival, coming, figure, look, manner, mien, presence, and pretense.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Real Estate Terms

Beam, girder, or truss with the top portion being in the shape of a bow and the bottom portion being straight across and connecting both ends of the top portion. ...

A measure of actual starts of houses, condominiums, and apartment construction. When an economy is going to take a downturn, the housing sector is the first to decline. The strength in ...

You’ll find the most common definition and use of the term ‘perimeter’ in mathematics, more precisely geometry, to determine an item’s or land’s surface area. ...

Any walls constructed without using concrete or mortar. Drywall materials include sheetrock, gypsum, plywood, Styrofoam, and pressed fiver. See also drywall construction. ...

Another residence in addition to the main residence where a person or family resides. An example is a second home out of the city used on weekends and during vacations. Interest and real ...

Early American architectural housing style stressing a gambrel roof and overhanging eaves. ...

Adobe construction is one of the oldest types of construction that has been used in the Americas, ancient Egypt, and the Middle East to build long-lasting structures that can be seen even ...

An deir to an individual who died intestate and is entitled, under the distribution statute, to a portion of its proceeds. After all claims against the estate are satisfied, the ...

Homes with division of ownership or use of a resort unit on the basis of time periods. For example, a resort home may be divided into 25 time shares of two weeks each, with two weeks left ...

Popular Real Estate Questions