A corpus-based study of English synonyms clear, obvious, apparent

The purpose of the study was to examine the similarities and differences of the three adjective synonyms: clear, obvious, and apparent. The criteria used to differentiate the three target words were meanings, degrees of formality, and noun collocations. To investigate the meanings of each of the synonyms, the researchers studied the definitions and example sentences provided in the Cambridge Advanced Learner's dictionary 4th edition and the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 9th edition. Regarding the styles and noun collocations, a total of 600 concordance lines from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) were investigated. The outcome of the study indicated that although the three synonyms are similar as they share a core meaning, some differences are lying among them in meanings, degrees of formalities, and noun collocations. Thus, clear, obvious, and apparent are different and cannot replace each other freely.