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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

self-evident en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • (Mid-Atlantic, US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *swé? Proto-Indo-European *selbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *selbaz Old English self Old English self- Middle English self- English self- English evident English self-evident From self- + evident.

Meanings

  1. (not-comparable) Obviously true, and requiring no proof, argument or explanation, axiomatic.
    • I guess I'm supposed to figure these things out Or maybe it's supposed to be self-evident 2000, “Family Happiness”, in The Coroner's Gambit, performed by Mountain Goats:
    • Who were these people who took refuge behind a few honoured but misguided names? What right had they to expect serious men of science to suspend their labours in order to waste time in examining their wild surmises? Some things were self-evident and did not require proof. 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
    • We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. 1776, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America:
    • Although the starting point of this article was the '70 years before all stations are made accessible' headline, it is self-evident that many of the requirements for disabled people will also make the railway a more welcoming place for families and the elderly. 2023 August 23, Anthony Lambert, “Expanding the family and disabled markets”, in RAIL, number 990, page 53:
    • Can we then find axioms as self-evident as those of Arithmetic, on which we can build as on a sure foundation, which could be shaken only by a scepticism which should attack the whole fabric of our knowledge? 1999, Bertrand Russell, Charles R. Pigden, Russell on Ethics:

Deriveds

self-evidently

Relateds

self-evidence

Translations (39)

it evidente (obviously true) · el αυταπόδεικτος (obviously true) · fr l'évidence même (obviously true) · ro de la sine evident (obviously true) · eo memkomprenebla (obviously true) · ka აშკარა (obviously true) · ka თავისთავად ცხადი (obviously true) · cmn 不言自明 (obviously true) · hi आत्मसिद्ध (obviously true) · it lapalissiano (obviously true) · ka ნათელი (obviously true) · cs samozřejmý (obviously true) · nl vanzelfsprekend (obviously true) · hu magától értetődő (obviously true) · ka უდავო (obviously true) · et enesestmõistetav (obviously true) · el αυτονόητος (obviously true) · ro de la sine înțeles (obviously true) · is sjálfgefinn (obviously true) · es lógico (obviously true) · ka ცხადი (obviously true) · pt autoevidente (obviously true) · ru само́ собо́й разуме́ющийся (obviously true) · pl zrozumiały sam przez się (obviously true) · cmn 不言而喻 (obviously true) · es evidente (obviously true) · fi itsestään selvä (obviously true) · pt óbvio (obviously true) · cmn 顯然 /显然 (obviously true) · es autoevidente (obviously true) · ru самоочеви́дный (obviously true) · it ovvio (obviously true) · ru очеви́дный (obviously true) · ja 自明の (obviously true) · nv tʼáá bééhózíní (obviously true) · bg очевиден (obviously true) · is sjálfsagður (obviously true) · sv självklar (obviously true) · de selbstverständlich (obviously true)