- [uncountable] the quality of something, such as a situation or an argument, that makes it easy to understand
- a need for greater transparency in legal documents
- The police reforms will ensure greater transparency and accountability.
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- [uncountable] the quality of something, such as glass, that allows you to see through it
- (also informal tranny)[countable] a picture printed on a piece of film, usually in a frame, that can be shown on a screen by shining light through the film synonym slide
- an overhead transparency (= used with an overhead projector)
- [uncountable] the quality in something, such as an excuse or a lie, that allows somebody to see the truth easily
- They were shocked by the transparency of his lies.
Word Originlate 16th cent. (as a general term denoting a transparent object): from medieval Latin transparentia, from transparent- ‘shining through’, from Latin transparere, from trans- ‘through’ + parere ‘appear’.
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transparency