Transparent \Trans*par"ent\, a. [F., from LL. transparens,
-entis, p. pr. of transparere to be transparent; L. trans
across, through + parere to appear. See Appear.]
1. Having the property of transmitting rays of light, so that
bodies can be distinctly seen through; pervious to light;
diaphanous; pellucid; as, transparent glass; a transparent
diamond; -- opposed to opaque. "Transparent elemental
air." --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. Admitting the passage of light; open; porous; as, a
transparent veil. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Translucent; pellucid; clear; bright; limpid; lucid;
diaphanous. See Translucent.
[1913 Webster] --
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
transparent
adj 1: transmitting light; able to be seen through with clarity;
"the cold crystalline water of melted snow"; "crystal
clear skies"; "could see the sand on the bottom of the
limpid pool"; "lucid air"; "a pellucid brook";
"transparent cristal" [syn: crystalline, crystal
clear, limpid, lucid, pellucid]
2: so thin as to transmit light; "a hat with a diaphanous
veil"; "filmy wings of a moth"; "gauzy clouds of dandelion
down"; "gossamer cobwebs"; "sheer silk stockings";
"transparent chiffon"; "vaporous silks" [syn: diaphanous,
filmy, gauzy, gossamer, see-through, sheer, vaporous,
cobwebby]
3: free of deceit [syn: guileless]
4: easily understood or seen through (because of a lack of
subtlety); "a transparent explanation"; "a transparent
lie"
WordNet (r) 2.0
106 Moby Thesaurus words for "transparent":
apparent, articulate, artless, bluff, blunt, broad, brusque,
candid, clean-cut, clear, clear as crystal, clear as day,
clear as glass, clear-cut, cloudless, coherent, connected,
consistent, crisp, crystal, crystal-clear, crystalline, defined,
definite, diaphane, diaphanous, direct, distinct, distinguishable,
downright, evident, explicit, express, filmy, flimsy, forthright,
frank, frankhearted, free, free-speaking, free-spoken,
free-tongued, gauzy, genuine, glassy, gossamer, gossamery,
guileless, heart-to-heart, ingenuous, light, light-pervious,
lightish, lightsome, limpid, loud and clear, lucent, lucid,
luculent, luminous, manifest, naive, nonopaque, obvious,
on the level, open, openhearted, outspoken, patent, peekaboo,
pellucid, perspicuous, plain, plain-spoken, recognizable, relucent,
revealing, round, see-through, serene, sheer, simple, sincere,
straight, straight-out, straightforward, thin, translucent,
translucid, transpicuous, unambiguous, unchecked, unclouded,
unconfused, unconstrained, understandable, undisguised,
undissembling, unequivocal, unguarded, univocal, unmistakable,
unobscured, unreserved, unrestrained, well-defined
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
transparent
1. Not visible, hidden; said of a system which
functions in a manner not evident to the user. For example,
the Domain Name System transparently resolves a fully
qualified domain name into an Internet address without the
user being aware of it.
Compare this to what Donald Norman
(http://www.atg.apple.com/Norman/) calls "invisibility",
which he illustrates from the user's point of view:
"You use computers when you use many modern automobiles,
microwave ovens, games, CD players and calculators. You don't
notice the computer because you think of yourself as doing the
task, not as using the computer." ["The Design of Everyday
Things", New York, Doubleday, 1989, p. 185].
2. Fully defined, known, predictable; said of a
sub-system in which matters generally subject to volition or
stochastic state change have been chosen, measured, or
determined by the environment. Thus for transparent systems,
output is a known function of the inputs, and users can both
predict the behaviour and depend upon it.
(1996-06-04)
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)
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