hidden in plain sight

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Clearly visible but unnoticed due to lack of attention

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

đáng nhìn thấy rõ ràng nhưng không được chú ý do thiếu sự quan tâm

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: something concealed but actually visible
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The answer was hidden in plain sight the whole time

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “hidden in plain sight” mean?

Clearly visible but unnoticed due to lack of attention Literally: something concealed but actually visible

Is “hidden in plain sight” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.