1. Characteristic of something that is easy to understand or is easy to see or is obvious: "Rebecca's reason for changing jobs was readily apparent and easy to see because she was going to get a higher position and a significant increase in salary."
2. Pertaining to something that seems to be true but possibly is not true: "Jim's father died of an apparent heart attack."

"The apparent cause of the series of auto accidents was the icy road."

3. Etymology: from Old French apareir which came from Latin apparere, formed from the prefix ad-, "to, toward" + parere, "show, become visible" + the suffix -ent.