eyesight
Americannoun
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the power or faculty of seeing.
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the act or fact of seeing.
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the range of the eye.
to come within eyesight.
noun
Etymology
Origin of eyesight
Explanation
Your eyesight is your vision, or ability to see. If your eyesight isn't perfect, you can correct it using glasses or contact lenses. Most (but not all) animals have eyesight, or the ability to perceive things using eyes. The exceptions are a few nocturnal or underground animals, and those whose eyes or nervous systems are damaged. Eyesight is an amazing sense, giving the average person the ability to distinguish between millions of colors and focus on more than 50 objects per second. The word eyesight was used by 1200, making it about a century older than the word vision.
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.
Then her eyesight deteriorated, which necessitated a month of radiation.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 2026
How’s the eyesight out of a rubber bald eagle mask?
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 17, 2026
So how do the thick-skinned animals with poor eyesight pull off such delicate tasks?
From Barron's • Feb. 12, 2026
His eyesight remains partially impaired, comparable to "looking through a telescope".
From BBC • Feb. 11, 2026
My eyesight starts to return, from the outside in so that I find myself turning my head to try to catch things in the periphery.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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.
