more than meets the eye

🌎Region: International 📊Difficulty Level:intermediate

💡Meaning

Something is more complex, interesting, or significant than it initially appears.

🕰️Origin

A visual metaphor meaning appearances are deceiving; used in everyday speech and popularized in modern culture (notably the 1980s 'Transformers' slogan).

📝Notes

Neutral to informal tone. Implies hidden depth or complexity beyond appearances. Common in conversation and writing; not formal jargon but acceptable widely.

💬Examples

Don't judge that book by its cover — it's more than meets the eye.
The small village is more than meets the eye; it has a rich artistic community.
She's quiet, but she's more than meets the eye—very talented and determined.
The project is more than meets the eye and will require weeks of careful planning.
At first the painting seemed simple, but it's more than meets the eye when you study it.

📘Grammar & Usage Notes

Usually appears as 'X is more than meets the eye' or 'There's more to X than meets the eye.' The phrase is idiomatic and relatively fixed; do not change word order arbitrarily.

🔗Synonyms

there's more to it than that
not what it seems
more than it appears
deeper than it looks

↔️Antonyms

as it appears
nothing special
plainly evident
just what it seems