prima facie
UK/ˈpɹiː.mə ˈfeɪ.siː/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ˈpɹiː.mə ˈfæɪ.siː/
prima facie adverb: at first sight; on the face of it.
Adverb
prima facie (comparative more prima facie, superlative most prima facie)
- At first sight; on the face of it.
- […] the nicest young man that ever was, — daintily gloved, patently booted, oilily curled, snowily wristbanded, with a lovely cambric (prima facie) handkerchief bound about his hyacinthine locks and polished hat.1871, Gail Hamilton, Gala-days, page 191
- Prima facie this may not read like a true story.1916 April 8, The National Provisioner, volume 54, number 15, page 36, column 2
Adjective
prima facie (not comparable)
- Apparently correct; not needing proof unless evidence to the contrary is shown.
- We conclude that the single photon is somehow interacting with itself. And now we have prima facie evidence of the superposition of quantum particles, that they can exist in more than one place at the same time.2020, Alex Garland, 17:59 from the start, in Devs, season 1, episode 5, spoken by Lecturer (Liz Carr)
- Synonyms:
- immediate, indubitable, self-evident, apparent, arrant, undoubted, glaring, bait, blatant, clear
prima facie meaning in Hindi, Tamil and Kannada
prima facie in Hindi
- at first sight
- प्रथम दृष्ट्या pratham dŕṣṭyā
prima facie in Tamil
- பார்த்த அளவில், உடன் முதல் நோக்கில், முதல் நோக்கில்
prima facie in Kannada
- ಮೇಲ್ನೋಟಕ್ಕೆ, ಮೊದಲ ನೋಟದಲ್ಲಿ
Synonyms of prima facie
- apparently
- seemingly
- at first blush
- at first glance
- at first sight
- on the face of it
- on the surface
- ostensibly
- outwardly
- superficially
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- to all appearances
- immediate
- indubitable
- self-evident
- apparent
- arrant
- undoubted
- glaring
- bait
- blatant
- clear
- clear as a bell
- clear as day
- clear cut
- conspicuous
- crystal clear
- cut and dried
- decided
- evident
- intuitive
- manifest
- noticeable
- obvious
- open-and-shut
- ostensible
- palpable
- patent
- plain
- plain as a haystack
- plain as a pikestaff
Forms of prima facie
| comparative | more prima facie |
|---|---|
| superlative | most prima facie |
Origin of prima facie
From Latin prīmā (“first”) + faciē (“shape, figure”), literally “at the first appearance.”
Words formed from prima facie
Questions about prima facie
- What does prima facie mean?
- Prima facie means at first sight; on the face of it.
- What is prima facie in Hindi?
- Prima facie in Hindi is प्रथम दृष्ट्या (pratham dŕṣṭyā). See Prima facie meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is prima facie?
- Prima facie can be an adverb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce prima facie?
- Prima facie is pronounced /ˈpɹiː.mə ˈfeɪ.siː/ (UK).
Words near prima facie in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: prima facie (page history and authors); prima facie (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prima facie (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “prima facie.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prima_facie. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.