in plain sight
38
2.7
- idiom
:
a la vista
- She found her keys right in plain sight, lying on the kitchen counter.
- hidden in plain sight
They hide it in plain sight, and they do it on purpose.
- They hide it in plain sight, and they do it on purpose.
- Just like narcissistic people, they can flourish in plain sight.
- And maybe there is a simple cure for all of us right there in plain sight.
- The government's actions happen in plain sight.
- I think, you know, these people, you know, they operate in plain sight.
- What do you think about the open carry law where you carry a gun in plain sight?
- that you're scared to let the real you be seen. I mean, think about a chameleon. They hide in plain sight
- These gays, people like me, want to be treated like full citizens and it's all written down in plain sight.
- And they were hidden in plain sight for a century.
- Narcissism is hiding in plain sight all around you.
- It's because of what was found hiding in plain sight on the LCQB website.
- What's in here is something that's hidden in plain sight, yet nobody talks about it.
Examples
-
So stick to what's in plain sight.
-
Come morning, they could climb out of this ravine and probably see the van in plain sight.
Fiction book (1995) -
Yeah, it was right in plain sight all this time.
-
But in fact, the center is in plain sight.
-
You two, stay together and in plain sight until I get back.
-
Come out slowly with the child in plain sight.
-
You know how they say if you wanna hide something, you do it in plain sight?
-
Rokey just tried to keep his hands at his sides and in plain sight.
Fiction book (2000) -
Go to your hotel, leave the car in front of the stairway in plain sight, and go to your room.
Fiction book (1993) -
Most modern viewers overlook the medicinal plants in Poussin's painting, though they are in plain sight.
Academic text (2004)
Synonyms
159
1.0
Able to be seen now or close by
104
2.5
In public and not hidden so other people can see or hear
12
4.4
Easily seen or noticed
11
1.0
Close enough to be seen
5
3.7
Clearly visible to everyone
1
3.5
Easy for everyone to see
Happens openly without people nearby noticing
Antonyms
How Visible
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'in a place where something can be easily seen' is directly derivable from the constituents: 'plain' (clear/obvious) + 'sight' (view/seeing) with the locative preposition 'in'. This compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows normal English noun phrase semantics, so a B1 learner who knows the words would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The phrase in plain sight comes from a simple image: something left where everyone can see it, because plain means 'easy to notice' and sight means 'seeing'. So it now means 'in a place where something is not hidden and can be easily seen'.