Visible means able to be seen. When something is visible, light bounces off it and reaches your eyes, allowing you to perceive it. A bright red cardinal perched on a snowy branch is highly visible, while a brown rabbit crouching in dead leaves might barely be visible at all.

Visibility depends on many factors: distance, lighting, color contrast, and size. A single candle flame is visible from miles away on a dark night, but you might not see your friend standing twenty feet away in thick fog. Scientists say that stars are visible in the night sky because their light travels across vast distances to reach Earth.

The word also describes things that are obvious or apparent in ways beyond physical sight. When a student's improvement in math becomes visible in their test scores, the progress is clear and noticeable. A coach might say that an athlete's hard work is visible in their performance.

The opposite of visible is invisible. Air is invisible, though it surrounds us constantly. Something can also have poor visibility, meaning it's difficult to see. Pilots worry about low visibility when flying through clouds or storms.