Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

catch sight of

Idioms  

  1. See suddenly or unexpectedly, as in When I first caught sight of the Alps, I was overwhelmed. [First half of 1800s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Tourists flock to the savannah by the hundreds of thousands, hoping to catch sight of the herds as they run a gantlet of crocodiles lying in wait in the Mara River.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 20, 2025

Lamp posts, cycle stands, bins, post boxes: it seemed there was no piece of street furniture that spectators were unwilling to climb to catch sight of the action.

From BBC • Aug. 9, 2024

Sometimes when Ralph Bernhardt’s fellow students catch sight of him on the University of Oklahoma campus, they stop to ask: “Are you Squirrels of OU?”

From Washington Post • Apr. 12, 2023

I start in Boyle Heights, where I catch sight of two sheriff’s deputies taking selfies in front of the bridge, then walk across to the Arts District.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 4, 2022

I am walking purposefully toward the front of the store when I catch sight of him walking in the same direction, about one hundred feet to my left.

From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.