manifest

1 of 3

adjective

man·​i·​fest ˈma-nə-ˌfest 

1

: readily perceived by the senses and especially by the sense of sight

Their sadness was manifest in their faces.

2

: easily understood or recognized by the mind : obvious

manifestly adverb

manifest

2 of 3

verb

manifested; manifesting; manifests

transitive verb

: to make evident or certain by showing or displaying

manifester noun

manifest

3 of 3

noun

1

: manifestation, indication

2

: manifesto

3

: a list of passengers or an invoice of cargo for a vehicle (such as a ship or plane)

Synonyms

Adjective

• apparent
• bald
• bald-faced
• barefaced
• bright-line
• broad
• clear
• clear-cut
• crystal clear
• decided
• distinct
• evident
• lucid
• luculent
• luminous
• nonambiguous
• obvious
• open-and-shut
• palpable
• patent
• pellucid
• perspicuous
• plain
• ringing
• straightforward
• transparent
• unambiguous
• unambivalent
• unequivocal
• unmistakable

Verb

• bespeak
• betray
• communicate
• declare
• demonstrate
• display
• evince
• expose
• give away
• reveal
• show

Choose the Right Synonym for manifest

Adjective

evident, manifest, patent, distinct, obvious, apparent, plain, clear mean readily perceived or apprehended.

evident implies presence of visible signs that lead one to a definite conclusion.

an evident fondness for sweets

manifest implies an external display so evident that little or no inference is required.

manifest hostility

patent applies to a cause, effect, or significant feature that is clear and unmistakable once attention has been directed to it.

patent defects

distinct implies such sharpness of outline or definition that no unusual effort to see or hear or comprehend is required.

a distinct refusal

obvious implies such ease in discovering that it often suggests conspicuousness or little need for perspicacity in the observer.

the obvious solution

apparent is very close to evident except that it may imply more conscious exercise of inference.

for no apparent reason

plain suggests lack of intricacy, complexity, or elaboration.

her feelings about him are plain

clear implies an absence of anything that confuses the mind or obscures the pattern.

a clear explanation

Verb

show, manifest, evidence, evince, demonstrate mean to reveal outwardly or make apparent.

show is the general term but sometimes implies that what is revealed must be gained by inference from acts, looks, or words.

careful not to show his true feelings

manifest implies a plainer, more immediate revelation.

manifested musical ability at an early age

evidence suggests serving as proof of the actuality or existence of something.

a commitment evidenced by years of loyal service

evince implies a showing by outward marks or signs.

evinced not the slightest fear

demonstrate implies showing by action or by display of feeling.

demonstrated their approval by loud applause

Examples of manifest in a Sentence

Adjective

The argument, for all of its manifest inadequacies … captured the national imagination and shaped subsequent religious discourse. It provided a vocabulary, an explanation, and a new set of boundaries for the restructured American religion that had by then been developing for half a century. —Jonathan D. Sarna, American Judaism, 2004

Economics, the great model among us now, indulges and deprives, builds and abandons, threatens and promises. Its imperium is manifest, irrefragable—as in fact it has been since antiquity. —Marilynne Robinson, The Death of Adam, 1998

Washington has long been uneasy about its relationship with Somalia, partly because of the manifest shakiness of the Siad Barre administration but also because of Somalia's continuing claims on the Ogaden. —John Borrell, Wall Street Journal, 23 Aug. 1982

His muscles were getting flabby, and his tailor called attention to his increasing waistband. In fact, Daylight was developing a definite paunch. This physical deterioration was manifest likewise in his face. —Jack London, Burning Daylight, 1910

Their sadness was manifest in their faces.

His love for literature is manifest in his large library.

There was manifest confusion in the streets.

Verb

Malone has invited Barkley to spend a week … to relax, talk some basketball, eat some hot Louisiana food and kick around the subject of frustration, something they both feel but manifest in different ways. —Jack McCallum, Sports Illustrated, 27 Apr. 1992

He asked what they had been doing in Dallas, and they told him that they were looking at the Sunbelt boom as manifested in the great Texas banks, thrifts and real estate operations. —John Kenneth Galbraith, A Tenured Professor, 1990

And if one is a pantheist … one might say that all nature is divinity and manifests itself in myriad forms and delightful complexities. —Margot Adler, Drawing Down the Moon, 1986

Both sides have manifested a stubborn unwillingness to compromise.

Their religious beliefs are manifested in every aspect of their lives.

Her behavior problems began manifesting themselves soon after she left home.

Noun

Since 2002, a program known as the Container Security Initiative requires our main trading partners to send to U.S. Customs and border Protection an electronic manifest for every U.S.-bound container twenty-four hours before it is loaded on a ship. —William Finnegan, New Yorker, 19 June 2006

Has any passenger manifest been more fretted over than the Mayflower's? —Jack Hitt, Harper's, July 2005

But for me, finding it still in "use" is high on the manifest of writerly thrills longed for—along with seeing someone you don't know hungrily reading your book on an overland bus in Turkey; or noticing your book on the shelf behind the moderator on Meet the Press next to The Wealth of Nations and Giants in the Earth; or seeing your book on a list of overlooked American masterpieces compiled by former insiders in the Kennedy administration. —Richard Ford, Independence Day, 1995

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

The capitulation to Trump was manifest in Senate Republican’s refusal to block any of the president’s cast of unqualified and dangerous nominees to serve in senior cabinet positions. —Mordechai Gordon, Hartford Courant, 28 Feb. 2025

The rationale for some kind of second look, or reconsideration of decades of draconian sentencing, is also compelled by the stark racial disparities that are manifest in life and long-term sentences, disparities that increase with longer sentences. —Steve Zeidman, New York Daily News, 11 Feb. 2025

Verb

Epinephrine is the hormone that’s responsible for triggering that fight-or-flight feeling in the body, which can often manifest as the heart beating faster, sweating, and shaking. —Aviel Kanter, Glamour, 10 Mar. 2025

That earnestness, which mars the whole script, also manifests in Rickards’ lead performance. —Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 8 Mar. 2025

Noun

The seven weapons experts were booked to travel from Moscow to Tehran aboard two flights on April 24 and September 17 last year, according to documents detailing the two group bookings as well as the passenger manifest for the second flight. —Reuters, NBC News, 4 Mar. 2025

Just enough remained to identify the vessel: crumpled copper sheathing from the period; iron ballast blocks that were mentioned in the manifest; and, most crucially, timber from a tropical hardwood that grew in Mozambique. —Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Adjective, Verb, and Noun

Middle English, from Anglo-French or Latin; Anglo-French manifeste, from Latin manifestus caught in the act, flagrant, obvious, perhaps from manus + -festus (akin to Latin infestus hostile)

First Known Use

Adjective

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1561, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing manifest

• manifest destiny

Rhymes for manifest

• acquiesced
• coalesced
• dispossessed
• overdressed
• overstressed
• prepossessed
• reassessed
• reinvest
• repossessed
• unaddressed
• uncompressed
• unexpressed

Kids Definition

manifest

1 of 3 adjective

man·​i·​fest ˈman-ə-ˌfest 

: clear to the senses or mind : obvious

their relief was manifest

manifestly adverb

manifest

2 of 3 verb

: to show plainly : display

manifest

3 of 3 noun

: a list of cargo or passengers especially for a ship or plane

Legal Definition

manifest

1 of 3 adjective

man·​i·​fest ˈma-nə-ˌfest 

1

: capable of being readily perceived by the senses and especially by sight

a manifest injury

2

: capable of being easily understood or recognized : clearly evident, obvious, and indisputable

vacating an arbitrator's award because of the arbitrator's manifest disregard of the law

manifestly adverb

manifest

2 of 3 transitive verb

: to make evident or certain by showing or displaying

manifesting the intent to make a gift

manifestation

ˌma-nə-fə-ˈstā-shən, -ˌfe-ˈstā- 

noun

manifest

3 of 3 noun

: a list of passengers or an invoice of cargo for a vehicle (as a ship or plane)