Dictionary

crystal clear en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From Middle English cristal cleer. Emphatic form of clear in visual and metaphorical “understandable” senses. Compare clear as a bell (“very clear (of sound)”).

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, qualifier:simile) Completely clear (in various senses). ▸ Without ambiguity or doubt; completely understood.
   • Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades, that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings? 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
   • Reread through the manual until the instructions are crystal clear in your head.
   • At a very basic level, technology almost always supplants some level of humanity. Not only does machine power replace manpower, but it distances, if not isolates, us from each other and from reality in the process. / See for yourself. Pick a technology. Any technology. / The crystal clearest example is probably the advance from cannon balls to atom bombs. 1997 October 29, Michael Ashcraft, “High tech: Devil made us do it!”, in The Rock Island Argus, 148th year, number 12, Rock Island, Ill., page B1, column 1:
   • For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight. 2019 September 23, Greta Thunberg, speech at the United Nations
2. (idiomatic, qualifier:simile) Completely clear (in various senses). ▸ Visually clear, a sharp image, of high acuity.
   • The picture on this TV is crystal clear – you can see every grain of sand!
   • The key is that only the original negative can produce the crystal clearest photographic image. 2007, David Rudd Cycleback, Judging the Authenticity of Photographs: The Basics for Collectors, Cycleback.com, →ISBN, page 111:
3. (idiomatic, qualifier:simile) Completely clear (in various senses). ▸ Very translucent or transparent.
   • It is these beliefs that set Clearview Stoves apart and set their company on a quest to design and build a stove that would set new standards and quite simply be the best. Their quest led to a stove with traditional styling, that is simple to use and highly efficient with a wonderful view of the flames behind crystal clear glass. 2017 October 4, “Guy Crabb Plumbing & Heating”, in View from Weymouth, Weymouth, page 25:
   • Near by, where the crystal clear River Llugwy is crossed by a bridge, stands a small and ancient church built of massive, irregular boulders. 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 100:
   • Jimmy and Ravi put together fine silver cutlery, crystal clear glasses and oriental decorated crockery. 2017, Steven Baker, chapter 16, in Colour Sergeant Chesney V.C., Kibworth, Leics.: The Book Guild Ltd, →ISBN, page 132:
   • On the lowest level are broad meadow lands, through which wanders a stream of the most crystal clear water imaginable. 1893, Charles F[orbes] Warner, editor, Picturesque Berkshire, part I (North), Northampton, Mass.: Picturesque Publishing Company; Springfield, Mass.: The W. F. Adams Company, page 84:
4. (idiomatic, qualifier:simile) Completely clear (in various senses). ▸ Having no clouds.
   • Jones Beach Pond on Long Island, so close to New York that the tops of the Empire State and the Chrysler Building can be seen on the horizon on crystal clear days, is one of the best shore-bird resorts I know. 1948, Roger Coty Peterson, Birds Over America, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, page 309:
   • On crystal clear days, such as those during or just following a Santa Ana windstorm, the Salton Sea can be spotted from this area. 1965, Russ Leadabrand, A Guidebook to the Sunset Ranges of Southern California: […], Los Angeles, Calif.: The Ward Ritchie Press, →LCCN, page 127:
   • Whence it comes that even in the crystal clearest weather Madeira’s sunshine spectrum is inordinately full of water-vapour stopped lines, the sun’s direct rays, though to general observation luminous enough, are signally deprived of their proper scorching heat, and the temperature range of the climate is immensely reduced for both the day and the year; […] 1882 May 1, C[harles] Piazzi Smyth, Madeira Meteorologic: Being a Paper on the Above Subject Read Before the Royal Society, Edinburgh, on 1st of May 1882, Edinburgh: David Douglas, pages 31–32:
5. (idiomatic, qualifier:simile) Completely clear (in various senses). ▸ Aurally clear.
   • With the slightly nasal, melodic whine of Wooten’s crystal clear vocals this song has a catchy sound to it that guarantees that it has potential to be an ear-bug. 2004 March 8, Cameron J. Woods, “‘Bloody lovely’ music: New band worth a little money”, in The Daily Collegian, volume CXIV, number 1, Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Amherst, page 4, column 2:
   • A truly powerful and versatile unit, crystal clear music is played through a pair of stereo speakers and has RCA line outputs for amplifier or Hi-Fi system integration. 2012, 2012 Engineering & Scientific Catalogue, Jaycar, page 218:
   • There is still space available for the STARFIRE BAND performance featuring the crystal clearest, cleanest Pittsburgh Born and Bred Alto Vocals of the sensational Miss Judi Figel in our Summer Street Dance and Al Fresco Dining (inside if rain) series Music & Dancing 7-11 P.M 1999 July 30, “D’Imperio’s”, in Weekend Mag (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), Pittsburgh, Pa., page 33:

Forms

Coordinates

clear as a bell

Deriveds

crystally clear · crystal clearly

Synonyms

clear as crystal · pellucid · clear as crystal · plain as day · obvious · clear as crystal · clear as crystal · clear as crystal

Translations (39)

jv cetha wela-wela (completely clear and understood) · it chiarissimo (visually clear) · de kristallklar (visually clear) · cmn 顯而易見 /显而易见 (completely clear and understood) · nn krystallklar (completely clear and understood) · es con claridad meridiana (completely clear and understood) · it chiaro e limpido (completely clear and understood) · es más claro que el agua (completely clear and understood) · de sternenklar (completely clear and understood) · sv kristallklar (visually clear) · de kristallklar (completely clear and understood) · it cristallino (completely clear and understood) · ru криста́льно я́сный (completely clear and understood) · nn krystallklår (completely clear and understood) · fi kristallinkirkas (visually clear) · sv glasklar (completely clear and understood) · nb krystallklar (completely clear and understood) · es claro como el agua (completely clear and understood) · de glasklar (visually clear) · es meridiano (completely clear and understood) · it cristallino (visually clear) · cmn 淺顯易懂 /浅显易懂 (completely clear and understood) · hu kristálytiszta (completely clear and understood) · nb krystallklar (visually clear) · sw dhahiri shahiri (completely clear and understood) · cmn 清澈 (visually clear) · ja 澄み切った (visually clear) · de sonnenklar (completely clear and understood) · ru криста́льно чи́стый (visually clear) · jv cetha wela-wela (visually clear) · nn krystallklår (visually clear) · nn krystallklar (visually clear) · fr clair comme de l'eau de roche (visually clear) · it chiarissimo (completely clear and understood) · fi kristallinkirkas (completely clear and understood) · cs nad slunce jasný (completely clear and understood) · de glasklar (completely clear and understood) · hu kristálytiszta (visually clear) · it chiaro come il sole (completely clear and understood)