Meaning
Completely obvious and impossible to miss. Used of facts, evidence, or feelings that are staring everyone in the face even though some people fail or refuse to acknowledge them, often with a note of exasperation at that wilful blindness. Informal; often carries exasperation at someone's failure, or refusal, to see what is right in front of them. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The Online Etymology Dictionary dates 'as plain as the nose on (one's) face', meaning very easy to be seen or understood, to the 1590s, and the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms likewise places it in the sixteenth century. It belongs to a large Elizabethan family of 'plain as' similes (plain as day, plain as a pikestaff) that asserted total obviousness by comparing something to an unmistakable object. The joke usually read into it today, that the nose is the most conspicuous thing in a person's field of vision yet the one thing the owner can never see, is a later explanation of the humour; the early sources simply record the comparison as a byword for self-evidence. It has stayed current in both British and American English for more than four centuries.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- as clear as the nose on your face
- as plain as the nose on his face
- as plain as the nose on one's face
- plain as the nose on your face
Usage Examples
- The answer was as plain as the nose on your face once someone finally checked the meter readings.
- Anyone could see the two of them were unhappy together; it was plain as the nose on his face.
- That the committee had already decided was as plain as the nose on your face from their body language.