Transparency Meaning
/tɹænsˈpæɹənsi/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe quality of being transparent.
nounOpenness; accessibility to scrutiny.
Sentence Examples
Candidness and transparency, information and communication are the basis of mutual trust.
Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing.
A need for greater transparency in legal documents
CEFR Practice Quiz
The government promised full ____ by releasing all documents about the decision to the public.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The government promised to improve the ____ of its activities so that the citizens can see how decisions are made today.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Medieval Latin trānspārentia, equivalent to transparent + -cy.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"And it [bribery and fraud] didn't stop there. Both Sir Winston Churchill and later Labour leader Michael Foot were allegedly regular recipients of private cheques that would have seen them summarily sacked in this present age of transparency."
— 2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 52:
"Donald Trump has lashed out against his own supporters, calling them gullible “weaklings” for questioning the transparency of a secretive government inquiry into the late high-profile socialite and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein."
— 2025 July 17, Oliver Holmes, “Trump calls Epstein conspiracy a ‘hoax’ and turns on Maga ‘weaklings’”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 10 Aug 2025:
"According to Bray (Life of Stothard, p. 50), the silversmiths Rundell and Bridge displayed a large transparency by Thomas Stothard, painted in thin oils on canvas and lit from behind, in front of their house on Ludgate Hill in honour of the King's Jubilee in 1810."
— 1810, Royal Collection Trust, Design for a transparency of George III:
"It soon came: as they were on their way to a transparency of their majesties, not a little larger than life—with Bellona, in a very handsome helmet, on one side, and Peace, with a cornucopia and a full blown wreath of roses, on the other—the path was interrupted by a little knot of gentlemen."
— 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Fête”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 59:
"John Lehmann's narrator Jack Marlowe is such a transparency, and his fiction is totally formless."
— 1986 April 12, H. W. Seng, “The Chunks-of-Life Approach Yields Thin Fiction”, in Gay Community News, page 12:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The government promised full ____ by releasing all documents about the decision to the public.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The government promised to improve the ____ of its activities so that the citizens can see how decisions are made today.