PERSPICUOUS Synonyms: 111 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How does the adjective 'perspicuous' differ from other similar words?

The words clear and lucid are common synonyms of perspicuous . While all three words mean "quickly and easily understood," perspicuous applies to a style that is simple and elegant as well as clear. // a perspicuous style

Q: When is 'clear' a more appropriate choice than 'perspicuous'?

While the synonyms clear and perspicuous are close in meaning, clear implies freedom from obscurity, ambiguity, or undue complexity. // clear instructions

Q: When might 'lucid' be a better fit than 'perspicuous'?

In some situations, the words lucid and perspicuous are roughly equivalent. However, lucid suggests a clear logical coherence and evident order of arrangement. // a lucid explanation

perspicuous

adjective

pər-ˈspi-kyə-wəs

Definition of perspicuous next

as in obvious

not subject to misinterpretation or more than one interpretation believing that poetry need not be as perspicuous as prose, he writes poems that are intentionally ambiguous

Synonyms & Similar Words

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How does the adjective perspicuous differ from other similar words?

The words clear and lucid are common synonyms of perspicuous. While all three words mean "quickly and easily understood," perspicuous applies to a style that is simple and elegant as well as clear.

a perspicuous style

When is clear a more appropriate choice than perspicuous?

While the synonyms clear and perspicuous are close in meaning, clear implies freedom from obscurity, ambiguity, or undue complexity.

clear instructions

When might lucid be a better fit than perspicuous?

In some situations, the words lucid and perspicuous are roughly equivalent. However, lucid suggests a clear logical coherence and evident order of arrangement.

a lucid explanation

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of perspicuous But where Hofstadter is playfully enigmatic and brashly brainy, Chalmers’s writing is perspicuous and teacherly — an approach that keeps it from collapsing into recalcitrant obscurity. —

Washington Post, 11 Feb. 2022 Conditions in the state the planes left behind them were far less perspicuous. —

The Economist, 8 Feb. 2020 The president began his Monday by scrutinizing his national security briefing, filling its margins with perspicuous questions and observations. —

Eric Levitz, Daily Intelligencer, 10 July 2017 Unspoken but perspicuous is the wish to (at worst) score points off Democrats and (at best) free up a seat on the nation’s most important appeals court for a nominee from the Federalist Society weapons locker. —

Garrett Epps, The Atlantic, 12 May 2017

Recent Examples of Synonyms for perspicuous

Adjective

If Hollywood waves are the definition of classic hair, then the makeup equivalent is certainly obvious.

— India Espy-Jones, Essence, 9 Feb. 2025
That leaves two remedies, the first and most obvious of which is impeachment, which might punish the president but wouldn’t affect the validity of the pardon.

— Robert A. Levy, Twin Cities, 7 Feb. 2025