mere appearance
- facadeDeceptive outward appearance
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- surfaceOutermost boundary layer
- semblanceOutward but misleading appearance
- veneerDecorative outer layer
pretense · guise · mask · show · outward · seeming · gloss · superficial · shallow · skin-deep · deceptive · mirage · phantom · shimmer · hollow · cosmetic · theatrical · disguise
substance and reality
mere appearancereality
What actually exists
true nature · essence · substance · actuality · objective reality
epistemic status
mere appearancetruth
Accordance with reality
fact · certainty · objective truth · evidence · hard evidence
philosophical substance
mere appearanceessence
Fundamental nature of something
thing-in-itself · being · quiddity · essential nature · substance