perspicuous

per•spic•u•ous (per-SPIK-yoo-uhs)  adj

Definition:
1. clearly expressed or presented; easy to understand
2. expressing oneself clearly and effectively
perspicuousness, perspicuity noun; perspicuously adverb

Origin:
1586; from L. perspicuus “transparent, clear, evident,” from perspicere "inspect, look through," from per- "through" + specere "look at"

Related:
Synonyms: clear, obvious, apparent, comprehensible, explicit, intelligible, lucent, lucid, luminous, pellucid, plain, straightforward, transparent, unambiguous, understandable
Related Words: perspective, perspicacious

Sentence Examples:
• I am always willing to run some hazard of being tedious, in order to be sure that I am perspicuous; and, after taking the utmost pains that I can to be perspicuous, some obscurity may still appear to remain upon a subject, in its own nature extremely abstracted. - An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith

• Such an historian would I wish to have under my care: with regard to language and expression, I would not have it rough and vehement, consisting of long periods, or complex arguments; but soft, quiet, smooth, and peaceable.  The reflections, short and frequent, the style clear and perspicuous; for as freedom and truth should be the principal perfections of the writer’s mind, so, with regard to language, the great point is to make everything plain and intelligible, not to use remote and far-fetched phrases or expressions, at the same time avoiding such as are mean and vulgar: let it be, in short, what the lowest may understand; and, at the same time, the most learned cannot but approve.  - Trips to the Moon, Lucian

• The necessary connexion of thought with the construction of a perspicuous sentence, has not, to my knowledge, been previously noticed. We are said to THINK on certain subjects, and this process is confessed to require an intense exertion of our intellectual faculties: but for this operation, the materials have not been clearly specified, nor the manner of the elaboration defined. - On the Nature of Thought, John Haslam

Sources: Free Dictionary, Online Etymology

Word-E: A Word-A-Day

luculent

lu•cu•lent (LOO-kyoo-luhnt)  adj

Definition:
1. clear or lucid
2. convincing; cogent
3. bright or shining; glowing 

luculently adverb

Origin:
1375–1425; late Middle English  from Latin luculentus  "bright", equivalent to luc-  (stem of lux ) "light" + -ulentus "full of"

Related:
Synonyms: comprehensible, intelligible, lucid, pellucid, perspicuous, transpicuous, unambiguous
Related Words: corpulent

Sentence Examples:
• We shall know at any rate that to Grumkow, in the Autumn 1731, these words were luculent and significant: consciously they tell us something of young Friedrich; unconsciously a good deal of Lieutenant-General Schulenburg, who with his strict theologies, his military stiffnesses, his reticent, pipe-clayed, rigorous and yet human ways, is worth looking at, as an antique species extinct in our time. - History Of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Thomas Carlyle

• The thundering acclamations, which greeted the close of that luculent and powerful exposition, the zeal with which the concourse hailed him unanimously Savior of Rome and Father of his country, the eagerness of affection with which all ranks and ages thronged around him, expressing their gratitude and their devotion, by all means imaginable, proved satisfactorily that, whatever might have been the result had massacre, plunder, and conflagration fallen upon them unawares, the vast mass of the people were now loyal, and true to their country.  -The Roman Traitor, Henry William Herbert

• I have heard, for example, a luculent description of poor Allister Campbell, and another drudge of the same class, running a race after dinner for a new pair of breeches, which Mr. David Bridges, tailor in ordinary to this northern potentate,--himself a wit, a virtuoso, and the croupier on that day in lieu of Rigdum,--had been instructed to bring with him, and display before the threadbare rivals.  - Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, John Gibson Lockhart

Sources: Dictionary.com, Free Dictionary

Word-E: A Word-A-Day

transpicuous

tran•spic•u•ous (tran-SPIK-yoo-uhs)  adj

Definition:
easily understood or seen through

transpicuously adverb
Origin:
1638; from Latin transpicere to look through, from trans- + specere to look

Related:
Synonyms: transparent, clear, apprehensible, comprehensible, evident, graspable, lucent, lucid, obvious, perceptible, plain, unambiguous
Antonym: recondite
Related Words: from specere to look: conspicuous, perspicuous, specimen, spectrum, speculum, aspect, spectacle, respect, introspection, expect, suspect, despicable, circumspect, speculation, perspective, inspection

Sentence Examples:
•                     On earth no wave
How clean soe'er, that would not seem to have
Some mixture in itself, compar'd with this,
Transpicuous, clear; yet darkly on it roll'd,
Darkly beneath perpetual gloom, which ne'er
Admits or sun or moon light there to shine.
-Purgatory, Dante Alighieri

• Relations with uncooked food are, in Versailles, distinguished by an unwonted intimacy. No one, however dignified his station or appearance, is ashamed of purchasing the materials for his dinner in the open market, or of carrying them home exposed to the view of the world through the transpicuous meshes of a string bag. -A Versailles Christmas-Tide, Mary Stuart Boyd

• Inside and outside he was transpicuous; his virtues were more than a model to the world. -The Zen Experience, Thomas Hoover

The Storyline
His name was Roger, the homeless man on the street. And he had become accustomed to be both invisible and opaque, neither seen nor understood, neither conspicuous nor transpicuous. It was this liminal space that he made his home, and it played games with his mind.

Sources: Merriam-Webster, Free Dictionary, Dictionary.com

Word-E: A Word-A-Day