barely visible
7
4.2
- adjective
:
apenas visible
- But certain nights, she said, the moon was barely visible through the clouds and the music never started.
This guy has a barely visible scar.
- This guy has a barely visible scar.
- It feels way more rewarding to completely knockout one small loan than to make tiny, barely visible progress on multiple loans.
Examples
-
Some shapes are big and fill the frame; others are small and barely visible.
Academic text (1992) -
Fort Bernelle, a couple of miles to their rear, is barely visible in the background.
Fiction book (1998) -
This hut is barely visible.
-
The train was a long one, the shape of its cars barely visible in the thick fog.
Fiction book (1999) -
Across the road, the graves were barely visible against the dark backdrop of the woods.
Fiction book (1993) -
The other side of the meadow is barely visible through the gray curtain of rain.
Fiction book (1998) -
The galaxies are extremely diffuse and are barely visible in contrast to the night sky.
Academic text (1994) -
Diffused light, where the sun is barely visible behind the clouds, also produces excellent photographic light.
Academic text (2000) -
The white smudge of Chi's shirt was barely visible in the gloom.
Fiction book (1999) -
The mountain peak was barely visible through the thick layers of fog.
Synonyms
398
1.0
Easy to see or notice
276
6.0
Not easy to notice or understand because it is small
148
2.7
Very slight and hard to notice
29
5.5
Something that is easy to see or notice
9
7.8
Very small or slight and hard to notice
4
8.8
Hard to see, hear, or notice
2
4.6
Hard to see or notice
1
3.7
Something you can notice with your eyes
So small that people do not notice it
Hard to see or notice
Antonyms
How Visible
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase 'barely visible' is directly composed from 'barely' (by a very small margin) modifying 'visible' (able to be seen), so the meaning 'only just perceptible' is transparently derivable from the constituents. This is a straightforward compositional pattern common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Barely visible paints the picture of a very faint mark or a tiny light you can almost not see. Because barely means almost not and visible means you can see, it is used to say something is 'difficult to see'.