Is there a difference between "seemingly" and "apparently" [closed]

Solution 1:

Since you are not getting too many answers I'll give my opinion based on my personal experience -- take that for what it is worth.

It is matter of degree. To use your example: the first report is seemingly unambitious, and the second apparently unambitious. In both cases the reports appeared on the surface to be unambitious, but the speaker leaves open the possibility that they might be more ambitious than the surface impression leads one to believe. However, to say "seemingly unambitious" is to express less certainty than to say "apparently unambitious".

If "Dawn seems annoyed" you might be simply misreading her body language, if she is "apparently annoyed" you have a higher degree of certainty. However, you only know for sure when Dawn starts yelling at you.

Solution 2:

To me the first [seemingly] seems to suggest that in reality the plan is ambitious, we just can't see it.

Or it isn’t obvious until you look closer. I agree.

Is this also the case for the second [apparently]?

No, apparently is different; it does not imply that the reality is the opposite.

However: your readers will assume that you used the word apparently for a purpose! Perhaps they’ll assume you just meant that you didn’t fully examine the plan, but it looks unambitious. Or perhaps they’ll assume that you think the plan might be ambitious after all. In either case, they get that impression not from the word itself but from the fact that you chose to use it.