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Angliholic Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

The stealth/invisible jet

The stealth jet wasn't detectable by any radar system.

Hi,

Is "the stealth jet" in the above equal to "the invisible jet?" Thanks.
  

Top answer

A "stealth jet" is, as the sentence indicates, one that is (almost) invisible to radar (or other intelligence-gathering equipment). "Invisible jet" is just sum-of-parts: a jet that's invisible. "Invisible" normally suggests that you can't see something with your eyes, so you can't mechanically replace "stealth jet" with "invisible jet" without regard to context.

— Mr Wordy

  • A "stealth jet" is, as the sentence indicates, one that is (almost) invisible to radar (or other intelligence-gathering equipment).
  • "Invisible jet" is just sum-of-parts: a jet that's invisible.
  • "Invisible" normally suggests that you can't see something with your eyes, so you can't mechanically replace "stealth jet" with "invisible jet" without regard to context.
  • For example, in a news report, "The government has just ordered ten invisible jets" would sound rather ridiculous.
  • However, in a story you could say something like "The enemy had deployed their latest weapon -- a stealth bomber.
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6 Answers
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A "stealth jet" is, as the sentence indicates, one that is (almost) invisible to radar (or other intelligence-gathering equipment). "Invisible jet" is just sum-of-parts: a jet that's invisible. "Invisible" normally suggests that you can't see something with your eyes, so you can't mechanically replace "stealth jet" with "invisible jet" without regard to context. For example, in a news report, "Th
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Mr WordyA "stealth jet" is, as the sentence indicates, one that is (almost) invisible to radar (or other intelligence-gathering equipment). "Invisible jet" is just sum-of-parts: a jet that's invisible. "Invisible" normally suggests that you can't see something with your eyes, so you can't mechanically replace "stealth jet" with "invisible jet" without regard to con
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Mr Wordy"The government has just ordered ten invisible jets" would sound rather ridiculous.
But it would be OK if you put "invisible" in quotes:

The government has just ordered ten "invisible" jets.
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AngliholicBy the way, what do you mean by "sum-of-parts?"
"Sum-of-parts" refers to a phrase that means no more than what its individual words indicate -- as opposed to being a sequence of words that routinely go together and have acquired a special standard or idiomatic meaning.
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Mr Wordy
AngliholicBy the way, what do you mean by "sum-of-parts?"

"Sum-of-parts" refers to a phrase that means no more than what its individual words indicate -- as opposed to being a sequence of words that routinely go together and have acquired a special standard or idiomatic meaning.


Thanks, Mr. Wordy.

T
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Angliholic
To make sure, is "sum-of-parts" similar to "umbrella term?"


Not really. An "umbrella term" is a term whose meaning covers a range of different but related things (the analogy is with the covering function of a physical umbrella). For example (lifted from Google): "Arthritis is an umbrella term for more than 100 medical conditions.
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