invisible
/ɪnˈvɪzɪb(ə)l
/adjective
1Unable to be seen: this invisible gas is present to some extent in every home...
- Gas-detecting devices currently used by investigators can detect the presence of gas which is invisible to the naked eye but not the source of the leak.
- The gas was invisible, and without taste, without smell.
- Radon is an invisible gas found in certain types of rock and soil, which can cause cancer if it seeps into houses and is breathed in over prolonged periods.
1.1Concealed from sight; hidden: he lounged in a doorway, invisible in the dark...
- Alex had been found hiding in the boys changing rooms rambling on about something invisible in the dark, something that had killed Lizzie and he couldn't stop it.
- Rine muttered under her breath and waved her hand, and the orange flames turned a dark blue, almost invisible against the dark tree roots and casting no light at all.
- Against a dark backdrop, invisible footlights pick out Paganini's lithe silhouette, sheathed in a formal black suit.
Synonyms
not visible, unseeable;
undetectable, indiscernible, indistinguishable, inconspicuous, unnoticeable, imperceptible;
unseen, unnoticed, unobserved, hidden, concealed, obscured, out of sight, secret
1.2Treated as if unable to be seen; ignored or not taken into consideration: before 1971 women artists were pretty well invisible...
- It's hard to take being treated like invisible people, or people who simply don't count.
- The feeling that they are invisible, forgotten and ignored runs deep.
- Folks don't like to be ignored or treated as if they are invisible.
2 Economics Relating to or denoting earnings which a country makes from the sale of services or other items not constituting tangible commodities: invisible exports...
- It is much easier and can be highly profitable to transmit invisible commodities.
- Overseas construction is a critical source of foreign currency and invisible export earnings.
- Pragmatically it was also an attempt to assure the retention of London as a key international financial centre, with consequent invisible earnings accruing to the country.
noun (invisibles)
Invisible exports and imports.Our balance of payments got progressively worse and NZ started to borrow overseas to bridge the gap between our imports plus invisibles, and falling exports....
- Substantial invisible earnings meant that Britain could sustain a trade deficit, the value of exports being less than imports, without experiencing a balance of payments deficit because invisibles added to exports exceeded imports.
- This data does not include software exports which are shown under invisibles.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin invisibilis, from in- 'not' + visibilis (see visible).