transparency

1 permitting the free passage of electromagnetic radiation [syn: transparence] [ant: opacity]

2 the quality of being clear and transparent [syn: transparence, transparentness]

3 picture consisting of a positive photograph or drawing on a transparent base; viewed with a projector [syn: foil]

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

1. a transparent object,
2. especially a transparent material with an image on it, that is viewable by shining light through it.
3. the quality of being transparent; transparence

Derived terms

• overhead transparency

Translations

Transparency (optics) is the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material. It is the noun form of the word transparent (for example, glass is usually transparent).

Literal uses:

• Electromagnetically induced transparency is an effect in which a medium that is normally opaque at a particular wavelength is caused to become temporarily transparent
• Pentimento is an alteration in a painting, often revealed with growing transparency in paints with age
• Transparency (photography) is a still, positive image created on a transparent base using photochemical means
• Transparency (projection), a thin sheet of transparent material for use with an overhead projector

Metaphorical meanings can amount to clear visibility, but also the opposite, invisibility (in particular of irrelevant details).

Transparency may also refer to:

In computing and mathematics:

• Transparency (computing), user and engineering design considerations, including
  • Location transparency if the names used to identify network resources are independent of both the user's location and the resource location
  • Network transparency if there is no difference between the centralized database and the distributed database
• Transparency (data compression), the ideal result of lossy data compression
• Transparency (telecommunication), the property by which a transmission system passes a signal through without changing its form or content
• Transparency (graphic), for overlay and translucency in PNG, GIF, and TIFF files
• Transparency (pseudo), or background translucency in the X or X11 Window System
• Referential transparency in programming designates a deterministic function

In humanities and business:

• Budget Transparency, availability of information on the budgetary process
• Media transparency, in the communications industry
• Radical transparency in management
• Transparency (humanities), a metaphor implying visibility in politics
• Transparency (linguistic), a term used in linguistics and the philosophy of language
• Transparency (market), a term in economics
• Transparency (philosophy), an adjective applied to a state in which the subject can be aware of being in that state
• Transparency International, an organization working for governance, corporate, banking and association transparency
• Transparency (Guatemala), a political party in Guatemala (Transparencia)
• Transparent (album)
• Transparent (film) (the movie)

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