clarity

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clar·i·ty

(klăr′ĭ-tē)

1. Clearness of appearance: the clarity of the mountain air.

2. Clearness of thought or style; lucidity: writes with clarity and perception.

[Middle English clarite, brightness, from Latin clāritās, clearness, from clārus, clear; see clear.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

clarity

(ˈklærɪtɪ)

1. clearness, as of expression

2. clearness, as of water

[C16: from Latin clāritās, from clārus clear]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

clar•i•ty

(ˈklær ɪ ti)

n.

the state or quality of being clear; transparency; lucidity: the clarity of pure water; a difficult idea presented with clarity.

[1300–50; Middle English clar(i)te < Middle French < Latin clāritās; see clear, -ity]

Clarity

(The scents of the garden descended upon him, their contours) as precise and clear as the colored bands of a rainbow —Patrick Suskind
As sharp as the last daybreak —Joy Williamson
From a book jacket blurb about Tess Gallagher’s ability to portray aging people’s vision of irremediable loss in novel, The Lovers of Horses.
As unreadable as a piece of modern sculpture —Frank Swinnerton
(The image) blurred … like something familiar seen beneath disturbed though clear water —William Faulkner
(The consonants) blur together like ink on a wet page —Sue Grafton
Clear and diminished like a scene cut in cameo —Edna St. Vincent Millay
Clear as a bell —John Ray’s Proverbs
One could compile a small book of just “Clear as” similes. The bell comparison along with “Clear as a whistle” and “Clear as crystal” are probably most frequently used and familiar.
[A theory synthesized from suppositions] clear as a case history written in a book —Jean Stafford
Clear as a cloudless hour —Algernon Charles Swinburne
Clear as a cube of solid sunshine —Anon
[Eyes] clear as a fountain —Walter Savage Landor
Clear as a graph —Anon
Clear as a lake —Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Clear as a legal confession of murder —John Cheever
Clear as an oboe solo —Diane Ackerman
Clear as A on the piano in the middle of all the tuning instruments of an orchestra —Sylvia Plath
Clear as a tear —Sylvia Plath
Clear as cold water —Mark Helprin
(The morning was) clear as glass —Mark Helprin
Clear as infant’s eyes —John Keats
(The creek flashed) clear as quartz —Ella Leffland
Clear as righteousness —Algernon Charles Swinburne
Clear as the A, B, C —George Washington
Clear as the day —Miles Coverdale
“Clear as” comparisons linked with the day, time of day, and the sun at different times of the day include “Clear as noon” (shortened from the once popular “Clear as noon-day”) and “Clear as the sun” (both attributed to Roger North); “Clear as is the summer’s sun” (William Shakespeare); “Clear as the mid-day sunshine” (Nathaniel Hawthorne); “Clear as daylight” (Arnold Bennett).
Clear as the figures at the bottom of a Profit and Loss Statement —Anon
Clear as the lines in a wet leaf —Charles Johnson
Clear as the note of doom —Lord De Tabley
(The men were naked and) clear as the point of a sword in the sun —George Garrett
(The sky is as) clear as the song of a boy —Beryl Markham
Clear as the twanging of a harp —Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Clear as wind —Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Clear, like accusation —Paul Horgan
[Voice in the “silent dead of night “] distinct as a passing footstep’s fall —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Distinctly as white lace on velvet —Thomas Hardy
(Shouldn’t the soul of a man be as) limpid and cutting as a diamond —John Cheever
(The air is) lucid and lonely as wind chimes —Sharon Sheehe Stark
(The poet’s work was about as) lucid as a polygraph chart —Joseph Wambaugh
Lucidity is positively flowing over me like the sweet oils of Persia —Lorraine Hansberry
Precise as a portrait photo —Natascha Wodin
To read him (Descartes) was like swimming in a lake so clear that you could see the bottom —W. Somerset Maugham
(Lake) transparent as liquid chrysolite —T. H. White
Transparent as a white cloud in the moonshine —Hans Christian Anderson
Transparent like some holy thing —Thomas Moore

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	clarity - free from obscurity and easy to understand; the comprehensibility of clear expression clearness, limpidity, lucidity, lucidness, pellucidity comprehensibility, understandability - the quality of comprehensible language or thought monosemy - having a single meaning (absence of ambiguity) usually of individual words or phrases focus - maximum clarity or distinctness of an idea; "the controversy brought clearly into focus an important difference of opinion" clearcutness, preciseness - clarity as a consequence of precision perspicuity, perspicuousness, plainness - clarity as a consequence of being perspicuous unambiguity, unequivocalness - clarity achieved by the avoidance of ambiguity explicitness - clarity as a consequence of being explicit abstruseness, obscurity, reconditeness, obscureness - the quality of being unclear or abstruse and hard to understand
	2.	clarity - the quality of clear water; "when she awoke the clarity was back in her eyes" uncloudedness, clearness transparentness, transparence, transparency - the quality of being clear and transparent semitransparency, translucence, translucency - the quality of allowing light to pass diffusely visibility - capability of providing a clear unobstructed view; "a windshield with good visibility" distinctness, sharpness - the quality of being sharp and clear quality - an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone; "the quality of mercy is not strained"--Shakespeare opaqueness, opacity - the quality of being opaque to a degree; the degree to which something reduces the passage of light

clarity

noun

1. clearness, precision, simplicity, transparency, lucidity, explicitness, intelligibility, obviousness, straightforwardness, comprehensibility the clarity with which the author explains this technical subject
clearness complexity, complication, obscurity, intricacy, imprecision, haziness

2. transparency, translucency, translucence, clearness, limpidity The first thing to strike me was the incredible clarity of the water.
transparency dullness, murkiness, cloudiness

Quotations
"Everything that can be said can be said clearly" [Ludwig Wittgenstein Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

clarity

noun

1. The condition of being clean and free of contaminants:

cleanliness, cleanness, pureness, purity, taintlessness.

2. The quality of being clear and easy to perceive or understand:

clearness, distinctness, limpidity, limpidness, lucidity, lucidness, pellucidity, pellucidness, perspicuity, perspicuousness, plainness.

Translations

وُضوح

čirostjasnostprůzračnost

klarhedpræcisiontydelighed

Klarheit Reinheit

διαύγεια ενάργεια σαφήνεια

claridad lucidez

clarté limpidité

skÿrleikurskÿrleikur; skÿrleiki

chiarezza limpidezza

aiškumasskaidrumas

dzidrumsskaidrība

jasnosť

açıklıkbelirginlikberraklıksaydamlık

明晰清澈

clarity

[ˈklærɪtɪ] N

1. [of statement etc] → claridad f

2. [of image, sound] → claridad f, nitidez f

3. [of water, glass] → claridad f, transparencia f; [of air] → pureza f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

clarity

[ˈklærɪti] n → clarté f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

clarity

n → Klarheit f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

clarity

[ˈklærɪtɪ] n → chiarezza

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

clarity

(ˈklӕrəti) noun

1. the state of being clear or easy to see through. water remarkable for its clarity.

2. the state of being easy to see, hear or understand. She spoke with great clarity.

clarity

n. claridad.

References in classic literature ?

The human, as apart from the scientific, side (developed in his own volumes) of his epoch-making discoveries is marked with a simplicity, clarity, and good sense beyond praise.

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Lightly indeed his flesh sat upon his soul, and his soul, in its briefness of clarity, knew by its very clarity that the black of cessation was near.

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Higher up, in the utter clarity of the western slope, the evening star hung like a lamp suspended by silver chains--like the lamp engraved upon the title-page of old Latin texts, which is always appearing in new heavens, and waking new desires in men.

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But the black had eyes only for Jerry, staring at him in wondering amaze until he pieced the situation together in his growing clarity of brain and realized that such a small chunky animal had spoiled his game.

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The words had the effect of lending an additional clarity and firmness of outline to the picture of himself which Bill had already drawn in his mind--of a soulless creature sunk in hoggish slumber.

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The evening was unexpectedly fine--only a few thin level bands of clouds at seven or eight thousand feet broke its luminous clarity. The wind had dropped; it was an evening infinitely peaceful and still.

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His pulse became quieter, and his brain increased in clarity. This time she could not escape him.

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Certainly there was something hardly human about the colonel's wolfish pursuit of pleasure, and his chronic resolution not to go home till morning had a touch of the hideous clarity of insomnia.

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