{
  "id": "marks.visual",
  "term": "marks",
  "sense": "visual",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 5,
  "arena": "common",
  "domain": "everyday",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "A difference that is a pattern on a surface when a part changes that surface.",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "difference.relation",
      "part.relation",
      "change.process",
      "pattern.regularity",
      "surface.exterior"
    ],
    "interaction": "A part changes a surface and a difference becomes a pattern.",
    "novel_properties": [
      "visible marking",
      "structured contrast",
      "persistent trace"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The Liberty Bell's crack widened during a ringing ceremony in 1846, becoming a permanent feature of its surface.",
      "domain": "history"
    },
    {
      "text": "Oxidation forms a green patina on the Statue of Liberty's copper skin, changing its appearance over decades.",
      "domain": "materials"
    },
    {
      "text": "Scratches accumulate on a smartphone screen from daily use, creating a visible network of fine lines.",
      "domain": "technology"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "pattern.regularity",
      "type": "is-a",
      "note": ""
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [
    "black.color",
    "code.information",
    "information.knowledge",
    "number.quantity",
    "page.sheet",
    "photo.visual",
    "pictures.visual",
    "s.letter",
    "see.visual",
    "sign.symbolic",
    "text.written",
    "visual.perceptual",
    "white.color",
    "write.communication"
  ],
  "forms": [
    "mark",
    "marked",
    "marking",
    "marks"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6,
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "components",
      "note": "Added missing constitutive concepts: pattern.regularity and surface.exterior, which are necessary for 'marks' as visual entities on boundaries."
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-marks.visual"
}