Dictionary

transparency en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /tɹænz-/ General American, Mary–marry–merry merger, Canada
• (New-Jersey) audio
• (Southern-England) audio
• /tɹænsˈpɛɹənsi/ General American, Mary–marry–merry merger, Canada
• /tɹænsˈpæɹənsi/ (General-American) without the Mary–marry–merry merger
• /tɹænzˈpæɹənsi/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Texas) audio
• /tɹænz-/ (General-American) without the Mary–marry–merry merger
• /tɹænsˈpæɹənsi/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin trānspārentia, equivalent to transparent + -cy.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The quality of being transparent.
2. (uncountable) Openness; accessibility to scrutiny.
   • And it [bribery and fraud] didn't stop there. Both Sir Winston Churchill and later Labour leader Michael Foot were allegedly regular recipients of private cheques that would have seen them summarily sacked in this present age of transparency. 2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 52:
   • Donald Trump has lashed out against his own supporters, calling them gullible “weaklings” for questioning the transparency of a secretive government inquiry into the late high-profile socialite and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 2025 July 17, Oliver Holmes, “Trump calls Epstein conspiracy a ‘hoax’ and turns on Maga ‘weaklings’”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 10 Aug 2025:
3. (countable) A transparent artwork, viewable by shining light through it.
   • According to Bray (Life of Stothard, p. 50), the silversmiths Rundell and Bridge displayed a large transparency by Thomas Stothard, painted in thin oils on canvas and lit from behind, in front of their house on Ludgate Hill in honour of the King's Jubilee in 1810. 1810, Royal Collection Trust, Design for a transparency of George III:
   • It soon came: as they were on their way to a transparency of their majesties, not a little larger than life—with Bellona, in a very handsome helmet, on one side, and Peace, with a cornucopia and a full blown wreath of roses, on the other—the path was interrupted by a little knot of gentlemen. 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Fête”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 59:
4. (countable) A translucent film-like material with an image imprinted on it, viewable by shining light through it.
   • When Jessie Washburne-Harris worked as a sales associate at Gagosian New York in the late 1990s, she shared images of available artworks with her clients via colour transparencies, which were incredibly expensive to produce. 2026 June 13, Julie Brener Davich, “Jpegs transformed the art market—was it for the better?”, in FT Weekend (Collecting section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6:
5. (countable) Something transparent.
   • John Lehmann's narrator Jack Marlowe is such a transparency, and his fiction is totally formless. 1986 April 12, H. W. Seng, “The Chunks-of-Life Approach Yields Thin Fiction”, in Gay Community News, page 12:
6. (countable, uncountable) Sufficient accuracy to make the compressed result perceptually indistinguishable from the uncompressed input.

Forms

Deriveds

overhead transparency · radiotransparency · intransparency · referential transparency · semitransparency · phototransparency · nontransparency

Synonyms

transparence · transparentness

Translations (56)

mi pūataata (quality of being transparent; transparence) · fr transparence (quality of being transparent; transparence) · es transparencia (transparent object) · pt transparência (quality of being transparent; transparence) · ca transparència (quality of being transparent; transparence) · lv caurspīdīgums (quality of being transparent; transparence) · sv transparens (quality of being transparent; transparence) · bg плака (transparent object) · cs průhlednost (quality of being transparent; transparence) · pl przezroczystość (quality of being transparent; transparence) · ms ketelusan (quality of being transparent; transparence) · hy թափանցիկություն (quality of being transparent; transparence) · fi läpinäkyvyys (quality of being transparent; transparence) · lv caurspīdība (quality of being transparent; transparence) · da transparens (quality of being transparent; transparence) · id transparansi (quality of being transparent; transparence) · pl przejrzystość (quality of being transparent; transparence) · fi läpikuultava (transparent object) · pt acetato (transparent object) · bg прозрачност (quality of being transparent; transparence) · lv caurredzamība (quality of being transparent; transparence) · ro transparență (quality of being transparent; transparence) · nrf transpathenche (transparent object) · tl aninag (quality of being transparent; transparence) · he שְׁקִיפוּת (quality of being transparent; transparence) · el διαφάνεια (quality of being transparent; transparence) · fr transparence (transparent object) · sv genomskinlighet (quality of being transparent; transparence) · uk прозо́рість (quality of being transparent; transparence) · nrf transpathenche (quality of being transparent; transparence) · ja 透明性 (quality of being transparent; transparence) · es transparencia (quality of being transparent; transparence) · nl transparantie (quality of being transparent; transparence) · be празры́стасць (quality of being transparent; transparence) · nl doorzichtigheid (quality of being transparent; transparence) · it trasparenza (quality of being transparent; transparence) · hi पारदर्शिता (quality of being transparent; transparence) · ru прозра́чность (quality of being transparent; transparence) · ota شفافلق (quality of being transparent; transparence) · pt transparência (transparent object) · cmn 透明度 (quality of being transparent; transparence) · da gennemsigtighed (quality of being transparent; transparence) · ru транспаре́нтность (quality of being transparent; transparence) · ar شَفَّافِيَّة (quality of being transparent; transparence) · de Transparenz (quality of being transparent; transparence) · ja 透明性 (transparent object) · cmn 透明性 (quality of being transparent; transparence) · de Durchsichtigkeit (quality of being transparent; transparence) · ca transparència (transparent object) · fi läpinäkyvä (transparent object) · tr şeffaflık (quality of being transparent; transparence) · ga gléine (quality of being transparent; transparence) · ms kelutsinaran (quality of being transparent; transparence) · gl transparencia (quality of being transparent; transparence) · fi avoimuus (quality of being transparent; transparence) · hu átláthatóság (quality of being transparent; transparence)