crystal clear
See also: crystal-clear
English
Alternative forms
- crystal-clear
Etymology
Emphatic form of clear in visual and metaphorical “understandable” senses. Compare clear as a bell (“very clear (of sound)”).
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Adjective
crystal clear (not comparable)
- (idiomatic) Completely clear and understood.
- Reread through the manual until the instructions are crystal clear in your head.
- 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 1, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473:
- Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades, that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings?
- September 23, 2019, Greta Thunberg, Speech at the United Nations
- For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.
- (idiomatic) Visually clear, a sharp image, high acuity.
- The picture on this TV is crystal clear – you can see every grain of sand!
Usage notes
In sense “understanding”, used both of explanations (by speaker) – “Her explanation of integration was crystal clear,” – and of understanding (by listener) “Is this crystal clear in that thick head of yours?”
Synonyms
- pellucid
- plain as day
- see Thesaurus:obvious
Coordinate terms
- clear as a bell (of sound)
Derived terms
- crystally clear
Translations
completely clear and understood
|
visually clear
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|