conspicuous

Related to conspicuous: conspicuous by absence

be conspicuous by (one's) absence

To be noticeably missing from something. You're the loudest one in the class, so of course you're conspicuous by your absence!
See also: absence, by, conspicuous

conspicuous by (one's)/it's absence

Especially noticeable because of being missing or absent (from something). You're the loudest one in the class, so of course you're conspicuous by your absence! The governor's economic stimulus plan was conspicuous by its absence during his speech this afternoon.
See also: absence, by, conspicuous

conspicuous consumption

The lavish expenditure of money or acquisition of expensive items as a public display of one's wealth or financial success. In rapidly developing economies, conspicuous consumption becomes more and more prevalent as a means for those who have done well to flaunt their new economic status.
See also: conspicuous

make (oneself) conspicuous

To draw attention to or make obvious one's presence, influence, or contribution. My little brother can't stand being ignored, so he goes out of his way to make himself conspicuous whenever we're around other people. Having made a name for herself with her auteur directing, the major film producer always makes herself conspicuous in anything she helps create.
See also: conspicuous, make
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

*conspicuous by one's absence

Cliché noticeably absent (from an event). (*Typically: be ~; made ~.) How could the bride's father miss the wedding? He was certainly conspicuous by his absence.
See also: absence, by, conspicuous

make oneself conspicuous

to attract attention to oneself. Please don't make yourself conspicuous. It embarrasses me. Ann makes herself conspicuous by wearing brightly colored clothing.
See also: conspicuous, make
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

conspicuous by its absence

Also, conspicuous by one's absence. Glaringly obvious by the fact of not being there. For example, One agenda item concerning publicity is conspicuous by its absence, or The bride's father was conspicuous by his absence. The idea is ancient; it was expressed by the Roman writer Tacitus, concerning the absence of Junia's brother and husband at her funeral procession. [Mid-1800s]
See also: absence, by, conspicuous
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

conspicuous by your/its absence

If someone or something is conspicuous by their absence, people notice that they are not there. He played no part in the game and was conspicuous by his absence at the post-match celebrations. Mathematics and science were conspicuous by their absence at the university.
See also: absence, by, conspicuous
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

conspicuous by your absence

obviously not present in a place where you should be.
This phrase was coined by Lord John Russell in a speech made in 1859 . He acknowledged as his source for the idea a passage in Tacitus describing a procession of images at a funeral: the fact that those of Cassius and Brutus were absent attracted a great deal of attention.
See also: absence, by, conspicuous
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

conˌspicuous by your ˈabsence

not present in a situation or place, when it is obvious that you should be there: When it came to cleaning up afterwards, Anne was conspicuous by her absence.
See also: absence, by, conspicuous
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

conspicuous by one's (its) absence

Noticeable by the very fact of not being there. The idea was expressed very early on by the Roman historian Tacitus, in recording the absence of Junia’s brother, Brutus, and her husband, Cassius, at her funeral procession. The phrase became popular in the nineteenth century, and continued to be applied often to political matters, such as the absence of certain provisions in a law, or the absence of political leaders on certain important occasions.
See also: absence, by, conspicuous

conspicuous consumption

Showing off one’s material wealth. The term was coined by the American economist Thorstein Veblen in The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), where he roundly criticized the well-to-do (leisure class) for preying on the rest of society and then flaunting their acquisitions. The term, always used as critically as by its author, has become a cliché.
See also: conspicuous
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer

conspicuous by its absence

Very obvious through nonattendance. This oxymoron, which goes back to ancient Rome, applies to people or objects that attracted attention because they were expected to be present but weren't. An example would be a close relative who either wasn't invited or chose not to attend a family function. Some literary commentators contend that the phrase has become a cliché, but it's now used so rarely, you may—although at your peril—claim its wit to be your own.
See also: absence, by, conspicuous
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
See also:
  • be conspicuous by (one's) absence
  • conspicuous by (one's)/it's absence
  • conspicuous by absence
  • conspicuous by its absence
  • conspicuous by your absence
  • conspicuous by your/its absence
  • in the absence of
  • in the absence of (someone or something)
  • be a sight for sore eyes
  • sight for sore eyes
References in periodicals archive
In fact, recent evidence (Varman and Vikas 2005) lends support to the fact that conspicuous consumption propensity is getting "massified" as people are increasingly being judged through their material lifestyles.
Of diamonds and desires: understanding conspicuous consumption from a contemporary marketing perspective
Conspicuous by its absence was downtime, user interruption, and administrative burdens.
Tricord Perfects Industry's First "Clustered' Server Appliance
Zeitgeist alert: Even the most casual reader of this month's issue will notice the conspicuous conjunction of adventurous new theatre works based on Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening.
Editor's note
The advent of commercial capitalism made such representations increasingly problematic, however, and Shakespeare's depiction of the fairy queen as a tiny aristocrat engaged in conspicuous consumption revealed the distance between the precapitalist world of folklore and courtly myth, and the market-driven turmoil of early modern London.
The Politics of Fairylore in Early Modern English Literature [*]
But distinctions based on conspicuous consumption and brand names have become more finely honed and obsessively policed since the 1980s.
A Look at Terror with My Daughter
But Klein, 48, feels proud, not conspicuous. Says the maverick, "I've always been pushing on the edge of cultural norms."
The executive as activist
witness to conspicuous consumption," the Moabite, Ruth, ".
The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels
In his Rhetoric Aristotle gives six definitions of emotions in approximately the following form, with the word [GREEK TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (Rhetoric ii.2.1378a30-1).(1) Does he mean `Let anger be a reaching-out, accompanied by pain, for conspicuous revenge for some conspicuous slight to oneself or one's own, the slight not having been deserved', or should [GREEK TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] be taken to mean `manifest, plain', or (a third possibility) should it be translated `perceived, apparent'?
Saving the phainomena: a note on Aristotle's definition of anger
Backed down from 8-1 in the morning to 9-2 favourite, Winter Romance battled on bravely to land the gamble in the Ladbroke Handicap by a short head from Conspicuous.
Ed rains supreme
And for him a Lamartine leading the French revolution of 1848 merely "moved into conspicuous though rather pathetic public service" (p.
The Naked Heart: The Bourgeois Experience from Victoria to Freud
Unless your policy language is clear, conspicuous and unalterable, it may be useless in defending a wrongful discharge claim.
Six reasons for updating your employee handbook
Although many predictions remain to be tested adequately, we conclude that: (i) conspicuousness is most plausibly explained by the conventional signalling theory that ascribes the function of conspicuous coloration to signal efficacy rather than waste; (ii) pattern similarity, within and between species, is unlikely to be the result of the need to produce similar degrees of conspicuousness, as predicted by the handicap theory, but is plausibly explained as the result of pattern generalization amongst discriminating predators, as predicted by the conventional signalling theory; and (iii) Batesian mimicry is predicted by the conventional signalling theory, but not the handicap theory.
Are warning colors handicaps?
The leisure class, Veblen said, justifies itself solely by practicing "conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption"; he defined waste as any activity not contributing to material productivity.
Theory of the Leisure Class, The (1899)
Conspicuous Production: Automobiles and Elites in Detroit, 1899-1933
Conspicuous Production: Automobiles and Elites in Detroit, 1899-1933
The widespread damage caused by the Yellowstone wildfires, especially the destruction of the historic vegetation mosaic and its replacement with a monoculture of lodgepole pine, is a conspicuous example of the deterioration.
Fire gods and federal policy