From Middle English apperen, aperen, borrowed from Old French aparoir (French apparoir), from Latin appāreō, from ad ("to") + pāreō ("I come forth, I become visible"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂s-, s-present of *peh₂- ("protect").

• (RP) IPA: /əˈpɪə/
• (America) IPA: /əˈpɪɹ/, [əˈpʰɪɹ]
• (Scotland) IPA: /əˈpiːɹ/

appear (appears, present participle appearing; simple past and past participle appeared)

1. (intransitive) To come or be in sight; to be in view; to become visible.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Genesis 1:9 ↗:

     And God […] said, Let […] the dry land appear.

2. (intransitive) To come before the public.

   A great writer appeared at that time.

   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre ↗”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC ↗; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831 ↗, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

     Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.

3. (intransitive) To stand in presence of some authority, tribunal, or superior person, to answer a charge, plead a cause, etc.; to present oneself as a party or advocate before a court, or as a person to be tried.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, 2 Corinthians 5:10 ↗:

     We must all appear before the judgment seat.

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 12, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC ↗:

     One ruffian escaped because no prosecutor dared to appear.

4. (intransitive) To become visible to the apprehension of the mind; to be known as a subject of observation or comprehension, or as a thing proved; to be obvious or manifest.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, 1 John 3:2 ↗:

     It doth not yet appear what we shall be.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:

     Of their vain contest appeared no end.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC ↗:

     ‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]?  Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?

5. (intransitive, copulative) To seem; to have a certain semblance; to look.

   He appeared quite happy with the result.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Matthew 6:16 ↗:

     They disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC ↗:

     Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.

6. (transitive) To bring into view.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene 1]:

     [Angelo] is yet a devil / His filth within being cast, he would appear / A pond as deep as hell.

• (to become visible) emerge; see also Thesaurus:appear
• (to seem) look

• (antonym(s) of “to become visible”): disappear, vanish

• appearance
• apparent
• appearer

• French: apparaître, paraître
• German: erscheinen, auftauchen
• Italian: apparire
• Portuguese: aparecer, surgir
• Russian: появля́ться
• Spanish: aparecer

• French: apparaître
• German: erscheinen, auftauchen
• Portuguese: aparecer, surgir
• Russian: явля́ться
• Spanish: aparecer

• German: erscheinen, auftreten
• Portuguese: comparecer
• Russian: явля́ться
• Spanish: comparecer

• German: erscheinen, einleuchten
• Portuguese: parecer
• Russian: ви́деться
• Spanish: aparecer

• French: sembler, paraître
• German: erscheinen, aussehen
• Portuguese: parecer, aparentar, semelhar
• Russian: каза́ться
• Spanish: parecer