invisible
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
impossible to see with your eyes.
incapable of being perceived by sight; not visible to the eye.
Simple“Oxygen is an invisible gas that we all need to breathe.”
In context“The bacteria were invisible to the naked eye, requiring a high-powered microscope for any meaningful observation.”
- 02 C1 Advanced
used to describe people or problems that are ignored or not noticed by society.
metaphorically applied to individuals or social issues that are systematically ignored or marginalised by the dominant culture.
Simple“Many homeless people feel invisible when they walk through the city.”
In context“The report highlights the plight of invisible workers in the gig economy who lack basic legal protections and social recognition.”
SynonymsAntonyms - 03 B2 Upper Intermediate
appearing to be offline on a chat app or website even though you are actually using it.
pertaining to a user status in instant messaging or social media that conceals the user's active presence from others.
Simple“I stayed invisible on the chat app so I could finish my work without being interrupted.”
In context“By setting her status to invisible, she was able to monitor the group discussion without being prompted to participate.”
“Beethoven’s merry peasants inspired some rougher edges, but nothing exceeding good clean fun, while Dudamel bounced on the spot as if on an invisible pogo stick.”
“John Smart, a non-academic futurist who describes his work as “acceleration studies”, calls this the “transcension hypothesis”: aliens are invisible to us because they have transcended bodily existence as we currently understand it.”
From Middle English invisible, from Old French invisible, from Late Latin invīsibilis. Displaced native Old English unġesewenlīċ. Morphologically in- + visible.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.