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

Same as term one-hundred-percent location: Precisely the optimum location for a retail business establishment in an urban central business district (CBD). A one-hundred-percent-location ...

Past action of a property owner or tenant. ...

What does the word draw mean in domain-specific terminology? A draw means a specific sum of money or other valuables that a person or company transfers to another for personal (or business ...

Pipe fitting shaped like the letter U permitting an intersecting pipe to be directed around another pipe. Plumbing connection between two water pipes in the same system. Passageway ...

The term “property title” is relatively common and often used in the real estate industry, which is why it’s useful to know what it really means. While the term itself is ...

Said of property that is bought subject to the existing loan against it. ...

A hard white finishing cement with a fast setting time and a high polish capability. Consisting of anhydrous gypsum plaster and an accelerant, alum, Keene's cement is normally applied over ...

A written mortgage document. A mortgage instrument states the terms of the mortgage including the interest rates, length of payments, payment dates, and remedies the bank is entitled to in ...

A lien is a legal instrument by which one party – usually lenders and creditors - guarantees the obligation of a real estate owner to do something – generally repays the money. ...

Popular Real Estate Questions