What is conspicuous?

What Does conspicuous Mean

The adjective conspicuous has its etymological origin in the Latin language, more precisely in the word conspicuus . The term qualifies one who is prestigious , distinguished , recognized or prominent .

For example: "The conspicuous writer will visit our city tomorrow to present his new novel" , "Nobody expected that a conspicuous political leader could carry out such an act" , "Even the most conspicuous scientists can make mistakes in their research . "
When studying the etymology of the word conspicuous, we discover that its origin is found in Latin, as mentioned in the first paragraph, and that since ancient times it has a meaning similar to the current one: "visible, very remarkable." The Latin adjective conspicuus consists of the following three parts: the prefix con- , which refers to performing an action together or overall , ie, between several participants; the stem of specere , a verb that can be translated as "contemplate, look"; the suffix -uus / -ivus , which speaks of relationship and passive possibility.

Taking all this into account, we can resolve that something conspicuous is something that cannot be overlooked since it is "globally visible." The components of this term allow us to corroborate, therefore, that a conspicuous person is, indeed, notorious or illustrious from the point of view of society .
Someone conspicuous is illustrious for their ability or their achievements. A doctor who invented an effective vaccine against a serious disease can be considered a conspicuous professional.
Some of the synonyms for the word conspicuous , in addition to those used so far to define it, are reputed, renowned and famous . It goes without saying that in everyday speech we find these three, especially the last two, much more frequently than with the conspicuous adjective , although in most cases the use of one or the other responds only to the taste of the interlocutor. that their meanings are equivalent.
Perhaps one of the most curious aspects of this term resides in one of its most common antonyms, unknown , which really is at the opposite extreme in terms of strength and color: while the first one speaks of a series of characteristics worthy of being highlighted that make a person impossible to confuse with others, this plunges the subject into a gray cloud in which he disappears without any hope of being rescued.
Looking at the meaning of conspicuous and unknown there is no doubt that they were born to be antonyms. It is a special case, partly because we cannot say anything about an unknown being, while we can spend hours and whole days talking about someone distinguished; the absence of notoriety has no effect, while notoriety attracts public attention and opinion .

The idea of conspicuous can also be used to name an element that, due to its characteristics, stands out : "The navigator failed to notice that something conspicuous appeared on the course of his boat" , "The canyon has a conspicuous stretch of about ten kilometers in length ” , “ The bird had a conspicuous orange ring on its right leg ” .
Pistosia conspicua , meanwhile, is the name of a species of insect that belongs to the family group of chrysomelids . It is a beetle: an animal that presents horny elytra covering its wings, a resistant shell and a mouth prepared for chewing.
The Euphorbia conspicuous , on the other hand, is a plant of the family Euphorbiaceae , whose members are characterized by unisexual flowers and abundance of latex. This species is phanerogamic because it is a vascular plant capable of producing seeds.
Among the mantles (the order of insects that are also known as mamboretás or mantis), appears the Sphodromantis conspicua , which can be found in different African countries .

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